Benazir Bhutto, close to a DEAL with Musharraf

Benazir Bhutto had adamently stood for the principle that she would not return to pakistan under the Military rule. She has been one of the many strong political voices against the military rule. Recently there have been talks of her making a DEAL with the military dictator, General Musharraf. It seems that she seems as desperate to take on the power regardless of the fact if she has to cut a deal with the General as much as the General is desperate to cut a deal with a popular politician.

The political game seems to be getting hot with the fact that, thanks to Judiciary, the playing field has been somewhat leveled and a long forgotten player has been allowed to enter in Pakistan. Whether that actually happens or not still remains to be seen, because the Military ruler seems adament on returing the favour on not allowing a safe landing to Nawaz. Refusal of safe landing to the General was the precise reason which helped the General use his military muscle and depose the then democratically elected prime minister.

BBC: Former Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto says she is close to reaching a deal to share power with President Musharraf.

The embattled military ruler is seeking support for presidential elections that could give him another five-year term. But he is under pressure to reach a deal with the opposition after several Supreme Court rulings went against him.

Ms Bhutto told the BBC that most issues had been resolved, but an agreement had not been finalised. She wants a clear statement he will resign as army chief. She also wants a pledge to remove legal obstacles currently preventing her from becoming prime minister for a third time, and the removal of corruption cases against her.

Ms Bhutto was speaking to the BBC's Urdu service after weeks of mounting speculation that a deal was being worked on.

"We are still negotiating. There are so many things we have agreed upon," she said. "But it's not been finalised so I can't go into details." She said she hoped General Musharraf would make a decision to stand down as head of the army "according to the wishes of the Pakistani people". "And the people of Pakistan want him to get rid of his uniform."

Earlier, Pakistan's railways minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, told reporters the deal was "80% done". He said the crucial issue over Gen Musharraf's dual role as president and army chief had been resolved, but did not elaborate.

Until now Gen Musharraf has said he will abide by the constitution when it comes to the dual role. Some say this means he will take off the uniform before the end of the year, some say before presidential elections in autumn, reports the BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad. The crucial thing for Ms Bhutto is that he publicly announce his intentions because right now she is losing support by negotiating with the military ruler, our correspondent says.

Analysts say Ms Bhutto was alarmed by the Supreme Court's decision last week allowing the other exiled opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, to return to Pakistan, perhaps as early as next month. Mr Sharif has gained much support for opposing army rule and vowing to force President Musharraf out of office.

It is not clear whether the military leader can accept Ms Bhutto's demands. At the moment he has enough votes in parliament to win another five-year term. But there are growing defections from the ruling party and the emboldened Supreme Court might yet rule that his re-election from existing assemblies is unconstitutional.

BBC's Profile on Nawaz Sharif

BBC World's has a detailed profile over Nawaz Sharif's political history. It goes into details about the major players in Paksitan politics and the views of the analysts over what would it imply if he was to come back into Pakistan's politics.

BBC: Nawaz Sharif's recent re-emergence as one of the power players in Pakistani politics has surprised many. Fellow ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has recently manoeuvred her way into an "unofficial" deal with President Musharraf.

Mr Sharif's party, on the other hand, has put together a new all opposition parties alliance ahead of the upcoming elections. This, along with his possible return, has caused many of his ex-party men, now part of Gen Musharraf's government, sleepless nights.

It is the latest extraordinary twist in the career of a man who was once Pakistan's most powerful politician. Before his dramatic overthrow in a military coup in 1999, Mr Sharif appeared to dominate the political landscape. He had convincing majorities in both houses of parliament, and exerted a powerful hold over all the country's major institutions - apart from the army. But when the army seized power, Mr Sharif was arrested, and eventually sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of hijacking and terrorism. He was also convicted of corruption and banned for life from political activities. But an alleged deal, reputedly brokered by the Saudi government, saved him and other family members from being put behind bars. Mr Sharif, along with 40 members of his family, was thus exiled to Saudi Arabia for a period of 10 years.

Nawaz Sharif was born into the family of a prominent Lahore industrialist in 1949. He made his mark in politics representing an urban constituency. He first came to national prominence when he was brought into the Punjab government during the early days of General Zia's martial law, serving as finance minister and then chief minister. Although he was never considered a particularly impressive political figure, he proved himself a competent administrator during his time as chief minister.

He first became prime minister in 1990, but was dismissed in 1993, clearing the way for the then opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto, to form a government. After becoming prime minister again in 1997 with a comfortable majority, Mr Sharif brought about a series of constitutional changes. These were seen as part of an attempt to stifle any institutional opposition to his rule.

He controversially reversed a constitutional amendment which took away the president's powers to dismiss the prime minister. A power struggle with the judiciary also gripped the country after Mr Sharif fell out with the then Chief Justice, Sajjad Ali Shah. Mr Sharif faced possible disqualification from office after charges of contempt of court were brought against him, but these were eventually dismissed.

In 1998, he was confronted by another stand-off after a former army head said the army should formally have a say in the running of the government. Tensions with the army resurfaced in 1999 when the prime minister used his influence to withdraw Pakistani-backed forces from the Indian side of the Line of Control in Kashmir in 1999. The army has always been a highly powerful institution in Pakistan. Mr Sharif's overthrow by General Musharraf in a bloodless coup showed how dangerous it was for any politician to attempt to curtail its influence.

His removal from active politics and his subsequent imprisonment led to serious differences emerging within his Pakistan Muslim League (PML) party. These threatened to become an open split with a decision by some senior party members - led by Mr Sharif's wife - to join an opposition alliance against the military. The move - which would have meant joining forces with arch-rival Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party - was deeply controversial with some party members. The split became a reality soon after Mr Sharif was sent into exile.

Erstwhile party loyalists, led by veteran politician Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, announced support for Gen Musharraf. They also provided support during his controversial presidential referendum.

Before the 2002 general elections, these rebels formed the PML-Q (Quaid-e-Azam) with a strong pro-Musharraf stance. The PML-Q was elected to form the government in 2002 amongst allegations of widespread rigging and political manoeuvring. The party has continued to form the political backbone for the current military-led regime. But all that may well end with Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto's return to Pakistan. Analysts contend that Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif continue to be the only populist politicians in the country.

But while the PML-Q fears Ms Bhutto's return, it is terrified by the thought of Nawaz Sharif coming back. Analysts say Mr Sharif's return would split the PML-Q and spell the end of the line for several politicians in the party.

New York Times's Background on Nawaz Sharif

NYT: Nawaz Sharif, 57, from one of the richest business families in Lahore, was twice prime minister in the 1990s. He came to power in 1990 with close links to military and intelligence agencies but gained popularity and won a large majority for a second term in 1997.

Yet he clamped down on the news media, civil liberties and the Supreme Court, and faced accusations of gross mismanagement and corruption.

The enmity between him and General Musharraf stretches back to October 1999, when Mr. Sharif was prime minister and General Musharraf his chief of army staff, and Mr. Sharif ordered the general’s dismissal.

As General Musharraf was returning from a trip to Sri Lanka, Mr. Sharif signed the dismissal order and refused to allow his plane to land. Senior military officers overruled the order as the plane was running low on fuel, and General Musharraf swiftly carried out a coup and imprisoned Mr. Sharif and his brothers on charges of hijacking a plane, terrorism and corruption.

Mr. Sharif was sentenced to life imprisonment but the following year General Musharraf arranged for Mr. Sharif, his brother, and their families to live in exile for 10 years in Saudi Arabia.

A trifecta might be needed here :)

NYT: Pakistan’s increasingly assertive Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a political rival to Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, can return from exile, throwing Pakistan’s politics into turmoil and threatening the American strategy of support for the president.

The court’s decision dealt a blow to General Musharraf by allowing the rival, Nawaz Sharif, whom he ousted as prime minister in a 1999 military coup, to run for election here this fall.

For the Bush administration, which has backed General Musharraf as a crucial ally in a terrorism hot spot, Mr. Sharif’s re-entry into politics would overturn its plan to prod the general to share power with Ms. Bhutto as a way of keeping him in power, foreign policy analysts said.

“At the very least, he is not a good friend of the United States,” Daniel Markey, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former State Department official responsible for southern and central Asia, said of Mr. Sharif.

He noted that, as opposed to Ms. Bhutto, Mr. Sharif drew his support more from the right of Pakistan’s politics, including the religious parties. “But then again,” he added, “you can say the same thing about Musharraf.”

The decision also provided a strong indication of the determination of the Supreme Court, and of the newly reinstated chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, to challenge military rule.

General Musharraf tried to dismiss Justice Chaudhry in March, but after a five-month battle and nationwide demonstrations, the Supreme Court reinstated him on July 20. Soon afterward, Mr. Sharif and his brother, Shahbaz, filed petitions to the Supreme Court contesting their exile. On Thursday, Mr. Chaudhry, leading a bench of seven judges, declared to a packed courtroom that the Sharifs had an “inalienable right to enter and remain in country, as citizens of Pakistan.”

“We did not take any path of a secret deal with General Musharraf,” Mr. Sharif’s information secretary, Ahsan Iqbal, told reporters outside the court. “Instead, we took a path of transparent judicial courts. Today, by the grace of God, we have been victorious and dictatorship has been defeated today.”

There is no doubt, however, that the ruling is a strong personal rebuke to the increasingly embattled General Musharraf, who said only last week that in the interest of stability, neither Ms. Bhutto nor Mr. Sharif should return before elections.

The decision also provided a strong indication of the determination of the Supreme Court, and of the newly reinstated chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, to challenge military rule. General Musharraf tried to dismiss Justice Chaudhry in March, but after a five-month battle and nationwide demonstrations, the Supreme Court reinstated him on July 20.

Musharraf calls for political reconciliation

BBC: Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has called for political reconciliation and dialogue within the country. The remarks came overnight after a Supreme Court ruling on Thursday allowed the return of exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Gen Musharraf deposed Mr Sharif in a coup in October 1999 and forced him and his family into exile in 2000. "Political reconciliation and national consensus is the need of the hour," President Pervez Musharraf said.

Gen Musharraf's comments came just hours after the Supreme Court, headed by a judge the president tried to remove, ruled that Mr Sharif and his family could return to Pakistan.

Musharraf tried to sack Iftikhar chaudhry back in March. The attempt to sack Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was aimed at taming a judiciary seen as increasingly independent. It backfired as Mr Chaudhry fought the charges in court and won.

Months of protests have seriously weakened President Musharraf and led to speculation that emergency rule might be imposed. If that were to happen, it would severely limit the power of the courts. Meanwhile, the judiciary continues to pursue cases in which the government is accused of over-reaching its authority.

Pakistan ex-PM Sharif to return

cnn: Pakistan's embattled leader, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, could face a key challenge to his rule in the coming months following the expected return of two major opposition leaders.

Pakistan's Supreme Court Thursday lifted the exile imposed on former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, ousted from power eight years ago by Musharraf in a bloodless coup.

The move is expected to clear the way for Sharif to run for office in elections scheduled for later this year or early next year. The court is led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who was recently reinstated after he was suspended in March by Musharraf.

"I don't believe in power-sharing with Musharraf -- he is a dictator, we are democrats," Sharif said Thursday, shortly after the Pakistani court's ruling. "How can a democrat share power with a dictator?"

Musharraf wielded a tight grip on power after imposing military rule in 1999, but has seen an increased backlash after failed attempts to control Islamic militants within the country's borders as well as his controversial suspension of the country's top judge in March.

The Bush administration continues to support Musharraf, who it views as a key ally in the war on terrorism.

Thursday's ruling was the latest blow to Musharraf, who is currently facing the most serious challenge since seizing power. The ruling was expected after the top court freed the acting president of Sharif's opposition party from prison in Pakistan several weeks ago.

Exiled Pakistani PM to go home

BBC: "The Sharifs have an inalienable right to return and remain in the country as citizens of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry Chief JusticeThe Sharifs have an inalienable right to return and remain in the country as citizens of Pakistan." Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry Chief Justice"

Exiled former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has pledged to go home soon and contest elections, in a bid to oust President Pervez Musharraf.
He was speaking in London soon after Pakistan's top court ruled against the government and said he could return.

Mr Sharif, who left Pakistan after he was deposed by Gen Musharraf in a 1999 military coup, said it was "the beginning of the end" for his rival.

Mr Sharif told the BBC: "Dictatorship and democracy don't go together. One will have to go." ... "It is dictatorship which will have to go. The sooner Musharraf understands this, the better it is for him and the country." ... "I'm not scared," he said. "If Musharraf wants to fabricate cases against me, let him do that. I'll face them."

Mr Sharif was sentenced to life in prison for tax evasion and treason among other offences and went into exile following the coup eight years ago. The authorities said Mr Sharif had promised to stay out of Pakistan and away from politics for 10 years in exchange for his freedom and exile.

But Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry said in his judgement on Thursday: "(The Sharifs) have an inalienable right to return and remain in the country as citizens of Pakistan."

The Pakistani government said it accepted the ruling but hinted the Sharifs might face legal action on home soil. Attorney General Malik Mohammed Qayyum said: "Let them come and the law will take its own course."