LONDON, 21 October 2006 — Former Pakistani prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif yesterday promised to return to their country before elections to restore democracy, despite a warning they would not be allowed home.
“I have a commitment to the people of Pakistan and plan to go back and help them at the time of the next election,” Benazir told a news conference in London.
Sharif said that he also hoped to return to Pakistan before the next parliamentary elections, due next year. They called for free and fair elections that would end their exile.
Benazir and Sharif, once bitter rivals, formed the multiparty Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy after President Pervez Musharraf seized power in 1999 in a bloodless coup.
“We want the restoration of democracy in Pakistan and we believe that fair, free and impartial elections must be held ... and that these elections should be open to all political parties,” Benazir told the news conference after talks with Sharif.
Sharif said: “Both of us have agreed that elections must be held under a neutral caretaker setup.”
The former premier told ARYONE TV, “No one can prevent Benazir Bhutto and me from returning to Pakistan. We have our parties intact and many members of ruling PML (Q) are waiting to return to the fold of PML (N) or PPP.” As part of their alliance, both politicians signed a “Charter of Democracy” binding them to struggle against Musharraf’s military regime and not to communicate with it.
But Benazir said in an interview with Reuters this month there were some “back-channel” contacts with the government but that stubborn differences remained.
Asked about her contacts with Musharraf, Benazir told the news conference: “We have certain issues which we do not see eye-to-eye with Gen. Musharraf ... but there are other issues such as the repeal of discriminatory legislation against women, where we do. To say we should throw the baby out with the bath water is wrong.”
Benazir said in the Oct. 6 interview it was premature to describe her ties with Sharif’s party as an electoral alliance but that they wanted to work together on reforms and put their “unhappy past” behind them.
Both want to return to Pakistan but Musharraf has vowed to block that and has dismissed the alliance between her Pakistan Peoples Party and Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League as irrelevant.
“Pakistan is facing challenges of terrorism. The Taleban is regrouping in parts ... we cannot afford a country like Pakistan to be on the edge.”
