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| Benazir says deal with Musharraf will be damaging for PPP | | |
LONDON, JUL 22 (PTI)
Self-exiled former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has said that any deal now with President Pervez Musharraf would be unpopular and damaging to her Pakistan People's Party.
"He (Musharraf) has lost his moral authority. His popularity rates are down and it would be very unpopular if we saved him. We would lose votes by being associated with him," Bhutto said in an interview published in The Sunday Times today.
She said the only circumstances in which she might still consider an arrangement would be if she felt it necessary to guarantee fair parliamentary elections on time.
The report said Bhutto, twice Prime Minister of Pakistan, is to make an early return to challenge plans by Musharraf to secure a new term as president without waiting for election.
She said the logic for a political deal that she had been contemplating with Musharraf had been significantly weakened by the Supreme Court's decision last week to reinstate Iftikhar Chaudhry, the chief justice he suspended earlier this year over claims of nepotism.
Bhutto said the Supreme Court had reasserted the independence of the judiciary and the newly strengthened courts could topple Musharraf through rulings on whether he can be appointed twice by the same assembly and whether he can continue to serve as both president and army chief of staff.
Musharraf, who is struggling to contain a resurgence of terrorism, has not threatened to delay elections, although the constitution allows him to do so for one year. Leading supporters have raised the possibility, however, the report said.
According to the report, Bhutto will wait to see if Musharraf goes through with his plan to be reappointed by the assembly before deciding whether to abandon discussions with him.
Bhutto who risks arrest on corruption charges on her return to Pakistan, said she felt that going home would be less hazardous than previously thought and she would make a final decision on the date next month.
"I said I would return by December, but now my people tell me we should go to court in regard to my return, and that I should come back as soon as possible, maybe in September. We will decide at a party meeting at the end of August," she said.
"I feel safer about returning after the Supreme Court's decision."
The reinstatement of the popular chief justice has left Musharraf more isolated than at any time since he seized power in 1999, the report.
It said this weekend Musharraf was locked in emergency meetings with cabinet colleagues, plotting a strategy to save his leadership. If he seeks a mandate from the current parliament but is overruled by the Supreme Court, he will be forced to hand over the presidency to a caretaker.
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