Pakistan braces for Bhutto’s return

PAKISTAN: The Pakistan government braced for the return of Benazir Bhutto as the former premier said talks with President Pervez Musharraf had ended without a power-sharing deal being reached.

One minister accused Bhutto of trying to bypass Pakistan’s government as she announced she was making plans to return from exile in London.

Musharraf, who is fighting for his political life, has been trying to hammer out a power-sharing pact with the ex-premier to bolster support, but has faced opposition from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Party (PML-Q).

“She (Bhutto) has come down to accepting the ground realities that there is a democratic government functioning in Pakistan,” deputy information minister Tariq Azeem told AFP.

“She was trying to pretend as if the PML-Q and other political parties which are ruling Pakistan do not exist.”

Musharraf redoubled his efforts Saturday to save the deal, sending aides to London to rescue the faltering talks, which ran into trouble after the PML-Q strongly opposed Bhutto’s demands.

But Bhutto told a press conference in London that “no understanding has been arrived at and we are making our plans to return,” adding that her political party in Pakistan would announce the precise date on September 14.

“I plan to return to Pakistan in the next few weeks to work for a moderate, a democratic Pakistan,” she said.

Azeem described Bhutto’s press conference as “hollow slogans and rhetoric” that “offered nothing to the people of Pakistan.”

Official sources said the negotiations had stalled over Bhutto’s demands that Musharraf shed his military uniform before seeking reelection, give up his powers to dissolve parliament and allow prime ministers to serve a third term.

A cabinet minister told AFP Saturday the PML-Q had told Musharraf he should not concede the demands, which would pave the way for Bhutto or returning former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to return to the post.

Musharraf would have to amend the constitution, which requires a two-thirds majority in the parliament, to facilitate Bhutto’s return to power.

“If these demands are met then the ruling coalition may not support the constitutional amendments necessary to bring about these changes,” the minister said.

Musharraf, facing the worst political crisis of his eight-year rule, held talks late Friday with leaders of the ruling PML-Q, which has backed him since the last general elections in 2002, to thrash out differences with them.

Talk of a deal with Bhutto has caused alarm in the ruling coalition ahead of fresh polls due by early next year. Bhutto, considered a natural ally for Musharraf because of her more liberal stance, has pledged to come back from her exile over corruption charges, although she is pushing the president for a pact first.

Her Pakistan People’s Party, the country’s largest, said Friday it was still waiting for a response from the president’s camp.

Islamabad, Sunday, AFP