Benazir serves ultimatum on Musharraf
PAKISTAN: Yet reluctant to shut the door on President Pervez
Musharraf completely, Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party said if
an understanding cannot be reached with him in the week left before the
filing of nomination papers for the October 6 presidential election, it
would "consider" joining other Opposition parties to resign from the
National Assembly and the provincial Assembly to protest his contesting
while remaining the army chief.
The All Parties Democracy Movement, comprising all other Opposition
parties including the Nawaz Sharif-led Pakistan Muslim League (N), which
took a decision to quit the Assemblies if Gen. Musharraf went ahead with
his declared plan to seek another term, said it would carry out the
threat on the day he files his nomination papers.
If the PPP implements its threat, the en masse resignation by the
Opposition parties from the electoral college will rob the presidential
election of its legitimacy and credibility.
The election's legal validity may also come under challenge as the
North-West Frontier Province is controlled by the Muttahida
Majlis-e-Amal, a partner in the APDM.
Its resignation would mean that the NWFP provincial Assembly will
stand dissolved, rendering the electoral college incomplete. Similarly,
an MMA pull-out from the ruling coalition in Baluchistan, may lead to a
second dissolution.
PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar said the party had hoped to reach an
understanding with Gen. Musharraf for a constitutional package, but it
had not yet materialised.
The PPP has talked about a constitutional package that would enable
the President to contest the election immediately after quitting as Army
chief without waiting the mandatory two years, and that would also
include removing the bar on two-time Prime Ministers holding the office
for a third time and doing away the President's powers to dissolve
Parliament.
The News reported that the two sides are to resume negotiations in
Dubai on Thursday but Mr. Babar said he was unaware if any meetings were
scheduled. Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid conceded that if the PPP
resigns, then Gen. Musharraf's re-election would suffer from a lack of
credibility, but in that case, he may exercise the option to impose
emergency or martial law.
He said if an agreement is worked out with Ms. Bhutto, the PPP would
abstain from voting which would not affect the election.
The PML (N) welcomed the shift in the PPP stand. "The entire
Opposition is one on this. The PPP too has stated the same. We expect a
united stand on the plans to resign," said party chairman Raja Zafarul
Haq.
Jamat-i-Islami leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed said all parties in the APDM
were "bound" by their decision to resign.
Meanwhile the United States wants to see a smooth transition to
democracy in Pakistan for the country's long-term stability and to aid
the fight against terror, a top State Department official said Thursday.
The comments by Richard Boucher came after Pakistani President Pervez
Musharraf said he would seek re-election on October 6 while still
serving as army chief. Without commenting specifically on Musharraf's
announcement, the State Department's assistant secretary for South and
Central Asia said an end to military rule would benefit both Pakistani
and US interests.
Addressing postgraduate students at Washington's Johns Hopkins
University, Boucher said that "long-term stability in Pakistan requires
a return to democracy."
"We want to see that transition, we want to see it to be a fair
election so that in the end, it's about the people of Pakistan... and
respecting the choices they make," he said.
Boucher stressed that Pakistan was an indispensable US ally in the
"war against terror," and noted that Musharraf now faces a declaration
of war from Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
"We want to see continuity in terms of Pakistan being better able to
continue that fight for the long term, continue not just in the military
dimension but in the economic and social dimension," he said.
Islamabad, Washington, Friday, The Hindu, AFP
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