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Surprise over Benazir's "deal"

Nirupama Subramanian

ISLAMABAD: Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (N) said on Sunday it was seeking "clarification" on Benazir Bhutto's remarks to a British newspaper that if elected Prime Minister, she was prepared for a working relationship with Gen. Pervez Musharraf as President.

PML (N) Information Secretary Ahsan Iqbal said only some days ago, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, a senior leader of Ms. Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, met Mr. Sharif in London and assured him that there was no deal with Gen. Musharraf.

"We are surprised by [Ms. Bhutto's] statements, and we are seeking clarification from the PPP," Mr. Iqbal said.

The PML (N) has said all Opposition parties must resign en masse from Parliament to thwart Gen. Musharraf's plan of seeking re-election from the sitting Houses and Provincial Assemblies.

The two Houses of Parliament — National Assembly and the Senate — along with the Provincial Assemblies make up the electoral college that elects the President.

Gen. Musharraf told a Bosnian newspaper during a visit to Sarajevo last week that he would seek re-election in "September or October", the first time he has spoken about this much-talked about plan so clearly.

It means that the Assemblies, controlled by Gen. Musharraf's political allies, will decide the next presidential elections.

The Assemblies are set to complete their term on November 17, 2007, while Gen. Musharraf's term will end just a month earlier.

Unethical

Describing it as "unethical, undemocratic and unconstitutional" for the President to seek re-election from an electoral college in its last days, Mr. Iqbal said a mass resignation from Parliament would "delegitimise" the process.

The PPP has committed to attend this meeting but statements by Ms. Bhutto in recent interviews suggest that while her party may not actively support Gen. Musharraf's re-election, it may not oppose it either.

In her most recent interview to the British newspaper The Times, Ms. Bhutto said if elected she would need to have a "working relationship" with Gen. Musharraf, "who would be there as President".

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