KARACHI, 17 July — Asif Zardari, the jailed husband of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, has said he will return to his ancestral village in Nawabshah and look after his farms if barred from politics by the government.
Everything depends on the government, he said, adding that the authorities did not appear willing to allow him to do politics. The government, he said, had similar plans for his wife, Benazir. But he said Benazir was a brave woman and would put up a strong fight to regain her place in national politics.
Zardari, incarcerated soon after the fall of his wife’s government in November 1996, denied reports of any impending deal or compromise with the government.
He said he would face cases instituted against him by the government while remaining within the country. Zardari said Makhdoom Amin Fahim, the People’s Party vice chairman, met with some army generals but did not raise the question of his release. About the Agra Summit, he said, he did not expect any major change in India, Pakistan relationship.
Meanwhile, Zardari moved an accountability court on Saturday seeking permission to use mobile phone to talk to his family members. “I have not met my family for the last three years as they are living abroad”, he said in a petition. He submitted the petition when he appeared before the court in the Pakistan Steel Mills case.
Zardari said the Sindh High Court in Dec. 20, 1999, had allowed former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his brother Shahbaz Sharif and former accountability bureau chief Saifur Rehman to use mobile phones.
President pledges elections next year
By Saeed Haider, Arab News Staff
AGRA, 17 July — President Pervez Musharraf has announced that the general election in Pakistan would be held next year.
Speaking to senior editors at Amar Villas Hotel here yesterday morning Gen. Musharraf said that his administration had already started groundwork and preparations were under way. In reply to a question on his taking over power from the elected government, Gen. Musharraf said he did not take the power willingly but was “forced into the situation.”
He said he was thankful to his predecessor (Nawaz Sharif) for creating a situation that warranted a military takeover which propelled him (Musharraf) to power.
“May be I was not fit for this position, but surely my predecessor was not fit to live in the country. Not a single person in the country wanted him,” he said.
The Pakistani media, however, did not take the general’s remarks on election seriously.
A general opinion was that it was the habit of all military rulers in the country to give a date for elections and then keep postponing it. A managing editor of a Pakistani journal who spoke on condition of anonymity said Musharraf was taking a cue from Gen. Ziaul Haq’s style.
