Bhutto close to pact on return to Pakistan
Saturday, 6 October 2007
Jo Johnson in New Delhi and Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad, FT Syndication Service
Benazir Bhutto, the former Pakistani premier, and General Pervez Musharraf, the president, were finalising a deal that will enable the former prime minister to return home without fear of arrest on corruption and money-laundering charges that have been hanging over her for a decade.
Such an agreement would see Ms Bhutto's opposition party grudgingly acquiesce in Mr Musharraf's re-election as president for another five years on Saturday, boosting the legitimacy of the US-backed military ruler and inflating his likely majority in the electoral college.
On Friday, the news agency -- Reuters -- citing a senior party official, reported that Ms Bhutto had agreed to a final draft of a "reconciliation agreement" with Gen Musharraf and was now awaiting the publishing of a formal presidential ordinance.
Separately, Pakistan's Supreme Court rejected a petition by the opposition to postpone Saturday's polls, but said the election result should not be announced until a ruling is made on challenges to Gen Musharraf's participation.
Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's party and a Pakistani government minister said the gulf between the former PM, who plans to return home from voluntary exile on October 18, and Mr Musharraf had narrowed after the army chief offered an amnesty to politicians facing corruption charges.
The breakthrough came after Mr Musharraf called for political reconciliation and urged all parties to "forget the attitudes of past politics of vendettas and victimisation".
"We have to see the future," he said on television Wednesday evening.
But even as negotiators entered eleventh-hour talks on key outstanding issues, including Ms Bhutto's demand that the government repeal a recent law barring twice-elected prime ministers from a third term in office, they acknowledged that hurdles remained.
"General Musharraf has said he wants national reconciliation; we want that too," Ms Bhutto said after meetings with her party leaders in London. "We have an expectation that things will be resolved but at this stage things are not final."
Washington has been promoting an understanding between the army chief and the leader of Pakistan's largest political party.
Ms Bhutto is seen as Mr Musharraf's best hope of resurrecting his plummeting approval ratings and of smoothing a transition to civilian rule.
The general is almost certain to win Saturday's election as his supporters formed a majority in the electoral college even before nearly 200 opposition parliamentarians, many of them loyal to Nawaz Sharif, deported from Pakistan on his return last month, boycotted the contest.
Opposition politicians say that Mr Musharraf's re-election will made a mockery of the constitution and that he will lack the legitimacy needed to tackle Pakistan's problems of religious extremism, poverty and social exclusion.
Ms Bhutto said the PPP's MPs would either abstain or vote for their own candidate in Saturdays election, and would not seek to resign beforehand. Most analysts expect the PPP's parliamentarians to abstain, a stance designed to demonstrate disapproval of Mr Musharraf's decision not to take off his uniform before seeking re-election but which falls short of a boycott or a dissenting vote.
Benazir Bhutto, the former Pakistani premier, and General Pervez Musharraf, the president, were finalising a deal that will enable the former prime minister to return home without fear of arrest on corruption and money-laundering charges that have been hanging over her for a decade.
Such an agreement would see Ms Bhutto's opposition party grudgingly acquiesce in Mr Musharraf's re-election as president for another five years on Saturday, boosting the legitimacy of the US-backed military ruler and inflating his likely majority in the electoral college.
On Friday, the news agency -- Reuters -- citing a senior party official, reported that Ms Bhutto had agreed to a final draft of a "reconciliation agreement" with Gen Musharraf and was now awaiting the publishing of a formal presidential ordinance.
Separately, Pakistan's Supreme Court rejected a petition by the opposition to postpone Saturday's polls, but said the election result should not be announced until a ruling is made on challenges to Gen Musharraf's participation.
Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's party and a Pakistani government minister said the gulf between the former PM, who plans to return home from voluntary exile on October 18, and Mr Musharraf had narrowed after the army chief offered an amnesty to politicians facing corruption charges.
The breakthrough came after Mr Musharraf called for political reconciliation and urged all parties to "forget the attitudes of past politics of vendettas and victimisation".
"We have to see the future," he said on television Wednesday evening.
But even as negotiators entered eleventh-hour talks on key outstanding issues, including Ms Bhutto's demand that the government repeal a recent law barring twice-elected prime ministers from a third term in office, they acknowledged that hurdles remained.
"General Musharraf has said he wants national reconciliation; we want that too," Ms Bhutto said after meetings with her party leaders in London. "We have an expectation that things will be resolved but at this stage things are not final."
Washington has been promoting an understanding between the army chief and the leader of Pakistan's largest political party.
Ms Bhutto is seen as Mr Musharraf's best hope of resurrecting his plummeting approval ratings and of smoothing a transition to civilian rule.
The general is almost certain to win Saturday's election as his supporters formed a majority in the electoral college even before nearly 200 opposition parliamentarians, many of them loyal to Nawaz Sharif, deported from Pakistan on his return last month, boycotted the contest.
Opposition politicians say that Mr Musharraf's re-election will made a mockery of the constitution and that he will lack the legitimacy needed to tackle Pakistan's problems of religious extremism, poverty and social exclusion.
Ms Bhutto said the PPP's MPs would either abstain or vote for their own candidate in Saturdays election, and would not seek to resign beforehand. Most analysts expect the PPP's parliamentarians to abstain, a stance designed to demonstrate disapproval of Mr Musharraf's decision not to take off his uniform before seeking re-election but which falls short of a boycott or a dissenting vote.