ISLAMABAD, 4 September 2007 — President Gen. Pervez Musharraf will make a final attempt to seal a deal with exiled former Premier Benazir Bhutto that could to keep the general in power, an official said yesterday.
“Envoys for Musharraf and Benazir will meet on Monday evening or on Tuesday in Abu Dhabi,” Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said on Dawn News television.
Musharraf and Benazir have been discussing a pact that would shore up the president’s troubled re-election bid while allowing the former prime minister to return to Pakistan and contest year-end parliamentary elections.
But Benazir has failed to win a public commitment from Musharraf that he will quit as army chief or give up the presidential power to fire the government.
Musharraf’s supporters have balked at Benazir’s demand that she be allowed to return and run for a third term as prime minister. With Musharraf up for re-election between Sept. 15 and Oct. 15, Sheikh Rashid said there would be no time for another round of negotiations and forecast that the talks would fail.
“I don’t think the hard-liners of both sides will allow” agreement, Sheikh Rashid said. Negotiations held in London last week between the two-time prime minister and President Musharraf’s top aides ended in deadlock, with Benazir saying that she would fly back to the crisis-hit country regardless.
“Our stand is that dialogue should continue,” Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani told AFP, despite the failure so far to thrash out a power-sharing deal between the embattled general and his bitter rival.
He confirmed that Musharraf’s top aide was in the Gulf emirate and said that it would “probably” be the venue for further discussions, as reported in several newspapers here.
The talks ran into trouble after the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Party opposed Benazir’s demands that Musharraf should quit as army chief before being re-elected for another five-year term as president.
Benazir said he should also cede his powers to dissolve Parliament, allow premiers to serve a third term and give an amnesty to herself and other politicians covering her two terms in power between 1989 and 1996.
“It is expected that the talks will be resumed,” Deputy Information Minister Tariq Azeem told AFP.
Azeem said some of Benazir’s demands were “unrealistic” but would not elaborate, adding only: “If the demands are realistic, there are more chances of reaching an understanding.”
Benazir’s Pakistan People’s Party confirmed that the ex-premier was expected in Dubai late Monday. But spokesman Farhatullah Babar told AFP the visit was “not linked to the dialogue.”
Benazir held secret talks with Musharraf in Abu Dhabi in July. She said on Saturday that she would end her self-imposed exile over corruption charges and announce the date of her return on Sept. 14.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League (N) was busy making arrangements for a grand reception to another Premier Nawaz Sharif who has announced to return to Pakistan on Sept. 10.
“Over 5,000 vehicles and thousands of PML -N workers will receive Sharif at Islamabad and lead him to Lahore the same day by road,” a PML-N leader, Zafar Ali Sahah, said. He said the party was making arrangements to establish “reception camps” at several points between Islamabad and Lahore.
