Sharif threatens Musharraf-Bhutto deal

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Jo Johnson in New Delhi and Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad, FT Syndication Service
Pakistan's Supreme Court ruling to allow Nawaz Sharif to return to the country has jeopardised negotiations over a power-sharing agreement between Benazir Bhutto and General Pervez Musharraf, analysts warned.
Any deal for the self-exiled leader of the Pakistan People's party "is becoming extremely problematic", said Shafqat Mahmood, a political analyst. For Gen Musharraf, a deal with Ms Bhutto is "even more imperative" after the court's decision.
Many members of Ms Bhutto's party say privately that she should not be in talks with Gen Musharraf and that, rather than seeking to be co-opted into government with the military regime, she should rejoin forces with Mr Sharif's party, the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), in attempting to overthrow it.
The Supreme Court ruled last Thursday that Sharif could return home. Mr Sharif, who was overthrown by Gen Musharraf in a 1999 coup, has vowed to oppose the army chief's bid for another term in office.
Gen Musharraf called for political reconciliation in the wake of the court decision. "There is a need for forgiving and forgetting the past because of the present political scenario and for moving ahead," he said last Thursday night, according to the official Associated Press of Pakistan.
But senior figures in Mr Sharif's party on Friday rejected the appeal. Sadique al-Farooq, a senior leader of Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N party, said there was "no chance for any reconciliation" with Gen Musharraf. "It is out of question," he told a news agency. "Democracy and dictatorship cannot go together."
While calling for "free and fair elections", the Bush administration, analysts say, has in private been pushing a "staged transition" to democracy, with Gen Musharraf broadening his base by co-opting Ms Bhutto.
US Democrats such as Senator Joseph R. Biden criticise the administration for having "a Musharraf policy" but "no Pakistan policy".
Ahsan Iqbal, a senior leader of Mr Sharif's party, said it would soon decide when the former prime minister would return.
"Popular opinion has turned increasingly against a Musharraf-Bhutto arrangement, undermining the popularity of Bhutto and the PPP," said Maria Kuusisto, an analyst at Eurasia Group in London.
Meanwhile agencies reports add, officials from the party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced Friday that he would be returning to Pakistan within weeks, but the government sent mixed signals on how it would respond to a Supreme Court ruling that threw open the coming parliamentary campaign to all political players.
Sharif's pending return led another opposition leader and former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, to reschedule her own return ahead of his, according to one newspaper report.
An accountability court in Pakistan on Saturday refused a government plea to issue an arrest warrant against Sharif in corruption cases.
The National Accountability Bureau had asked the court to issue arrest warrants against Sharif and his family members.
But judge Chaudhry Khalid Mehmood rejected the anti-graft panel's plea and said that the Supreme Court had ruled that Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif can return to Pakistan and no warrant will be issued unless they are back.
The court had asked the government not to create any hindrance in the return of Sharifs, who were sent into exile in 2000 after General Pervez Musharraf seized power in a bloodless coup.
Politicians and analysts argued that though the returning party leaders may have been tainted by lingering charges of corruption and mismanagement, the overwhelming desire in Pakistan was for democracy and a free choice in elections this fall.
Still, the attorney general, Malik Muhammad Qayyum, who represented the government before the Supreme Court, said that Sharif could face arrest if he returned.
At the same time, Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, said there was a need for dialogue to ensure a smooth period of preparation for elections.
Meanwhile, Benazir Bhutto has directed party leaders in Pakistan to finalise preparations for her welcome reception, as she is planning to return to the country next month earlier than Nawaz Sharif.
Bhutto has asked the party leaders to rush to London with concrete proposals, sources said.
Bhutto issued this directive after the Supreme Court allowed PML-N leaders Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif to return, observing that there were no legal restrictions on their return.
Senior Vice Chairman of the PPP Makhdoom Amin Fahim rushed to London while other senior leaders would be leaving on Saturday.