ISLAMABAD, 19 July — Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has asked President Pervez Musharraf to resign for his failure to reach an agreement with India at Agra, Online news agency reported. Benazir, who lives in self-exile in London and Dubai, also hit out at the president, saying he lacked the popular mandate to make peace with India.
She said Musharraf should step down and added that her Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) “will gear up efforts for an immediate revival of the democratic order. “Only a representative government can deal with diplomacy, and politicians alone can sign agreements,” she said.
She said in a signed article following Musharraf’s return from Agra: “Signing of agreements is difficult for generals and it is the politicians who can arrange declarations.” Benazir said lack of public mandate let down Musharraf. “He had no public support and was a weak ruler. Indians may have thought it is better to talk to an all-powerful general but in the end they must have found him weak. Musharraf is weak, illegitimate, unelected and unrepresentative.”
The son of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has termed Musharraf’s India visit an absolute disappointment. “The failure was bound to happen and we warned about it several times,” Hassan Sharif said in a statement released from London Hassan said Musharraf did not represent the Pakistani nation and the behavior of the Indian government clearly demonstrated this, Online news agency reported. “The only thing the Pakistani nation got from this visit was a few pictures of Mr. and Mrs. Musharraf under the shadow of the Taj Mahal,” he added. Trying different Indian food, reviving some childhood memories — Musharraf spent his first four years in Delhi, strolling at the Taj Mahal and talking to the international press does not address real issues…, he said.
