"I think it is a big blow to Pakistan's sovereignty, Pakistan's independence and Pakistan's self-respect," former prime minister Sharif told reporters in Lahore. "Pakistan is in a grave crisis and is surrounded by big danger."

"We want resignations, not half-baked explanations," an official of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's PML-N told the News daily.

"If he was really living in that compound for five years ... then why didn't our agencies discover him?" former foreign minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri told reporters. "This has given anti-Pakistani elements a chance to ridicule us."