Bhutto won't share power with a uniformed Musharraf
BRITAIN: Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto insisted
Sunday she would not strike a power-sharing deal with President Pervez
Musharraf so long as he remained the army chief.
Speaking to Britain's Sky News television from Leeds in northern
England, Bhutto said it was likey she would return from exile to stand
in Pakistan's next general election, due by early next year.
"I think the chances right now are pretty good. It's about 90 percent
out of 100 for me to stand in those elections," she said.
Bhutto, who has lived in self-imposed exile in London and Dubai since
1998 due to corruption claims against her, could be jailed on the
charges upon re-entering Pakistan.
The 54-year-old, who was prime minister from 1988 to 1990 and again
from 1993 to 1996, has had talks with General Musharraf about a possible
return to Pakistan but maintained she had grave reservations about a
uniformed president.
"It's very important to deal with who's there. He is the person there
and if we can find a way to get the uniformed presidency out of the
picture, we can find a way to get democracy back... we will be looking
forward. "We're not there yet."
Put to her straight that she would not enter any kind of power
sharing deal with Musharraf as long as he remained head of the army,
Bhutto replied: "That's right. "The post of the army chief must be
separated from that of the president."
She said an amendment passed by Musharraf banning a twice-elected
prime minister from seeking office a third time was "an issue which is
part of the discussion between us."
"If he doesn't bring the change, if the people of Pakistan, through
their elected representatives wish to lift that ban, they certainly
can," she said. "(Exiled) former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and I have
come to an understanding that we would lift this ban."
The Pakistani government has denied reports that Musharraf held a
secret meeting with Bhutto in Abu Dhabi in a bid to arrange a
power-sharing pact to steady his position. Asked why she wanted to
return to front-line Pakistani politics, Bhutto said she felt her
country was being threatened by extremists.
"If the people from Pakistan vote for me, certainly I would to take
on that job," Bhutto said.
"But this is more than a struggle for me: this is a struggle for the
heart and the soul of Pakistan.
"We stand at the crossroads. Very critical choices have to be made
between the forces of the past and the forces of the future. There is
militancy, terrorism and violence.
"My government and I have had experience of dealing with it. If we
could get another opportunity, I would certainly take the challenge."
She added: "I don't want the people of Pakistan to face terror at the
hands of the Taliban and their allies in Al-Qaeda and become refugees in
foreign lands. I want to try and save my country, if I can," she said.
In a German magazine interview to be published Monday, Bhutto warned
of a looming Islamist revolution mounted from the country's religious
schools, or madrassas.
Bhutto said she was planning her return to Pakistan this year to help
stabilise the country in the face of the extremist threat.
"The Red Mosque was just a warm-up for what will happen if the
religious schools are not disarmed," Bhutto told the news weekly Focus.
She added that Islamist extremist leaders were plotting to overthrow
Musharraf's government and had converted madrassas in Pakistani cities
into military headquarters with well-stocked arsenals.
She accused Musharraf of adopting an "appeasement policy" toward
extremists that had only strengthened them.
"We must pursue these people and take them to court," she said.
She admitted that she had made mistakes during her time in office in
trying to work with the Taliban to pacify the country.
London, Monday, AFP
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