Bhutto accuses Musharraf allies of pushing Pakistan toward crisis

PAKISTAN: Exiled former leader Benazir Bhutto accused allies of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf of pushing Pakistan toward a dangerous crisis by refusing to restore democracy and share power.

Bhutto also told The Associated Press on Sunday that her party may join other opposition groups in resigning from Parliament and taking to the streets to try to force the U.S.-allied president from office.

Warnings that a nuclear-armed country beset by Islamic militants could be heading for greater turmoil are growing as Musharraf's supporters urge him to ride out legal problems dogging his re-election bid.

In a telephone interview, Bhutto said that group was advising Musharraf to contest a presidential election due by Oct. 15 without stepping down as army chief.

"We all know that any election in uniform would be illegal. But they prefer to play with the Constitution and create a crisis rather than have a smooth transition to democracy," Bhutto said. "Pakistan can ill afford confrontation and anarchy."

Bhutto has been in talks with Musharraf for months on a pact that would include constitutional amendments to defuse legal challenges to his re-election bid and let her return to Pakistan and compete in parliamentary elections due by January.

But negotiations have snagged over the reluctance of Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup, to give up his sweeping powers, and dismay among his die-hard supporters that they could by eclipsed by Bhutto.

Leaders of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q party have repeatedly suggested that Musharraf could declare a state of emergency to forestall chaos. Bhutto said she believed that some of Musharraf's advisers genuinely wanted an agreement with her. But she said the government had failed to deliver a response promised in the last round of negotiations with her envoys in Dubai on Sept. 4.

She declined to forecast whether the talks could still succeed, but said her party was girding for a failure which could deepen the political confrontation.

Islamabad, Monday, AP