ISLAMABAD, 30 August 2007 — Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and exiled former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto are on the verge of a power-sharing deal, officials said yesterday after intensive talks between the sides in London.
“Eighty to 90 percent of issues have been settled. Ten to 20 percent have yet to be decided,” Benazir told Aaj television channel yesterday.
“Some matters relating to a balance of power between the Parliament and presidency are still pending,” she added.
In an interview published yesterday in Britain’s Daily Telegraph, Benazir said the matter of Musharraf’s military status had been settled and gave tomorrow as the deadline for resolving outstanding points.
“The uniform issue is key and there has been a lot of movement on it in the recent round of talks,” Benazir told the London-based daily.
“The deal is 80 percent finalized and all the important issues are settled,” railways minister and close Musharraf confidant Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told a news conference in Islamabad.
Rashid cited agreements reached on the holding of free and fair elections, closure of corruption cases against Benazir, and reduction of presidential powers to dismiss the government and Parliament.
Sticking points included proposed constitutional amendments to allow Benazir to serve a third term as prime minister.
A central issue in her talks with presidential aides, Musharraf’s relinquishment of his post as army chief as he seeks another five-year term this autumn, was also resolved, according to the minister.
“Uniform is no longer an issue, and the president will make an announcement about it at an appropriate time,” Rashid said. Neither Benazir nor Rashid elaborated on the details of that agreement.
Musharraf, an army general who took power in a bloodless coup in 1999 and went on to become a key US ally in the war on terror, has relied heavily on his military position to consolidate his power.
Benazir had initially sought an assurance that he would step down as army chief by the end of the year. But Musharraf’s increasingly embattled position at home and the opposition’s growing influence is thought to have prompted her to demand that he shed his uniform before the polls.
The United States is widely believed to support an arrangement between the two politicians on the strength of liberal aspects of their platforms.
The schedule of the presidential election is likely to be announced after finalization of the deal with Benazir. But Musharraf has said the polls will be held before Oct. 15.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Supreme Court said yesterday that it would hear a petition challenging Musharraf’s right to serve as head of the armed forces. The petition filed by Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the head of the Muttaheda Majlis-e-Amal alliance of religious political parties, claims that Musharraf’s tenure as army chief expired in 2001 under military regulations.
It also argues that his eligibility to hold the post ended in 2003 when he turned 60, the retirement age for any Pakistani military officer.
The authors of the petition have been encouraged by the court’s recent decisions against the government, including the permission granted to another of Musharraf’s main rivals and ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to return home after six years in forced exile.
Despite the threat of renewed corruption allegations against him, Sharif has pledged to return to Pakistan to lead his party in the elections, expected to be held within three months of the presidential polls.
However, Musharraf vowed to prevent him from returning the country in spite of the Supreme Court ruling permitting him to return.
Sharif had accepted the exile through a deal to avoid serving life imprisonment and could not now return home, the president said while addressing a public meeting outside Islamabad.
— With input from agencies
