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Speculation over Benazir deal with Musharraf

Nirupama Subramanian

PPP leaders go on the defensive over rumours

ISLAMABAD: Confusion prevails about what is really going on between Benazir Bhutto and the Muhsarraf regime, with the Pakistan People's Party leader reportedly saying one thing from her base abroad and her party managers denying it here the next day.

The London Sunday Times reported, "Bhutto, speaking from her home in Dubai, said she wanted a deal with the President but that it would be `premature' to say one was imminent. Her supporters are looking for `confidence-building' measures to convince them that Musharraf is acting in good faith. Top of their list is a demand that corruption charges against her are dropped, along with a constitutional ban on anyone serving more than two terms as Prime Minister."

On Monday, the PPP sent out a clarification that "when asked by the Sunday Times about the reports of a deal between her and the Musharraf regime [Ms. Bhutto] said that there was no deal".

Former PPP Senator and Ms. Bhutto's spokesman, Farhatullah Babar, later said the Times had misreported the interview. Asked what Ms. Bhutto meant when she said, "It would be premature to say [a deal] was imminent", Mr. Babar said his leader had not denied "back-channel negotiations" with the Musharraf regime, but that did not mean she "wanted" a deal.

For weeks, there have been rumours that Ms. Bhutto is trying to work out an arrangement for corruption cases against her and her husband to be dropped, so that she can return to Pakistan without fear of arrest. In return, she would support the re-election of Gen. Musharraf as President. Senior Cabinet Minister Sheikh Rashid even said the deal is in its "semi-final" stage. Western analysts have been positing it as the best political arrangement that Pakistan could have. In this year of National Assembly and presidential elections, Ms. Bhutto must come back to Pakistan or surrender to the possibility of political oblivion.

Gen. Musharraf needs to shore up his weakening credibility at home and abroad through an alliance with a party that has secular and democratic credentials. This is also seen as his chance to cut his regime's dependence on Right wing religious parties.

But the persistent rumours have embarrassed PPP supporters at a time of an unprecedented outpouring of political protests against the Musharraf regime. Other Opposition parties are looking suspiciously at the PPP, and there have been murmurs, hotly denied by the party,that it is not an enthusiastic enough participant in anti-Government protests against the removal of the Chief Justice.

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