Bhutto hopes to be in Pak by Eid

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

New York, Aug 12: Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, leader of Pakistan's largest opposition party, said she hope to return home by mid-October for elections in which she may ally with President Pervez Musharraf.

But Bhutto said any deal with the President depended on him taking-confidence building steps by the end of August, such as lifting a ban on her serving a third term as Prime Minister.

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''I would like to go back to Pakistan sooner rather than later, but General Musharraf still is opposed to my return to Pakistan,'' Bhutto told the sources in an interview in New York.

''He's prepared for my return to Pakistan but the timing of it is under dispute between the two of us.'' A cabinet minister said the beleaguered President, who is army chief of staff and took power in a coup in 1999, wants exiled former prime ministers Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif to stay away from Pakistan before elections.

Asked when she planned to return, she said she was thinking of between September and December. ''I'm expecting the general elections to be called some time in October or November, but if I had my little Aladdin's lamp then I would ask the genie to get me there by Eid, which falls in October,'' she said.

The Eid holiday is expected to start around October 13.

Bhutto became the first female Prime Minister in the Muslim world when she was elected in 1988 at age 35. She was deposed in 1990, re-elected in 1993, and ousted again in 1996 amid charges of corruption and mismanagement.

Bhutto said she had a ''confidential understanding'' with Musharraf on the principle of her return from a decade of exile and on her demand that he should resign from the army in order to be a civilian president rather than a military ruler.

Asked about a secret meeting between the two last month in Abu Dhabi, Bhutto declined to confirm or deny it, but said: ''We have been having negotiations for a long period of time. We have discussed the uniform issue and both sides have reached a confidential understanding on it.

''We have discussed my return issue and we've also reached a confidential understanding on that.'' They also discussed the balance of power between president and prime minister but ''that is still to be fine tuned.''

Deal-Breakers

They also discussed election reforms to ensure a free and fair vote and she said her Pakistan People's Party was waiting to see reforms implemented. If the elections turned out to be rigged, that would be a ''deal-breaker,'' she said.

''We've also talked about the need to have an upfront confidence-building measure, which could be through indemnity or lifting of the ban on a twice-elected prime minster before we say or trigger an agreement,'' Bhutto said.

US ally Musharraf is passing through the toughest patch of his rule with Islamist militants flexing their muscles and the judiciary lined up against him since he tried to sack the country's Chief Justice, who was reinstated last month.

Musharraf plans to seek re-election from the sitting assemblies before elections, a move his opponents deem illegal and have indicated they will challenge in the Supreme Court.

Bhutto said she and Musharraf had agreed to disagree on that point since it would be decided by the courts, so it was not a deal-breaker.

''The actual deal-breakers are 'Is there going to be some upfront action before we all enter these election seasons, like by the end of this month?'' she said.

''Time is running out,'' she said, adding that key aides were coming to New York for an emergency meeting. ''The ban has to go, the indemnity has to come by the end of August.'' Bhutto said some critics in her own movement were opposed to negotiating with Musharraf.

''They would like me to come out on the streets now, before the elections, to force General Musharraf's ouster,'' she said.

''But I feel that if we have an agitation four months before the election, it could lead to yet another military rule ... or it may lead to extremists taking over.'' Bhutto said corruption charges against her and her husband were politically motivated and her party's strong showing in opinion polls showed people have confidence in her leadership.

''It's up the people of Pakistan. If they want to (elect) me, yes, I want to take up the challenge of running the country as the prime minister,'' she said.

Reuters>

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