Adil Najam
Rumors of a ‘deal’ between PPP leader Benazir Bhutto and Gen. Pervez Musharraf have been rife for a long time. All indications now suggest that a deal of some sort has, in fact, been reached.
The ferocity with which the rumors are being denied – with obvious insincerity – suggests that something is afoot. The question is, exactly what.
There is little utility, it seems to us, to indulge any further in the speculation than people already are. The much more important question is what – if anything – will such a deal mean for Pakistan and for democracy in Pakistan.
Will it make things better? Will it make things worse? Will things remain as they have always been and this will simply be one more round in the ‘great game’ of musical chairs that has always been Pakistan politics?
That is the question for our new ATP Poll (see top of middle column). Let us know what you think, and why? With your vote in the poll and with your comments below.
[quote comment=”44079″]inviting a known,proven corrupt person to take over the country…
I am surprised “it will make things better” is even a part of this poll[/quote]
What on earth do you think Musharraf is if not a known, proven corrupt person who has invited the Taliban in and hastened Pakistan’s demise……..Democracy will always make things better – just look at India. Please use your intellect and do not follow the usual middle-class Anti-democracy part line. Pakistan has grown richer under Mush – but as usual it is only the rich and middle-classes have benefited.
bhindigosht, I agree with your comments. Chaudhry Shuj is under illusion that Benazir would compromise principles to get power. I hope the report in DAWN is hundred per cent correct.
Also, from Dawn today: Chaudhry Shuj of Guj has said that a deal is acceptable only if PPP accepts Mush in uniform (talk about shamelessness)
I for one, want to see PPP back in power,not through a deal, but an election. I think, PPP still has some of the smartest politicians. It is also a party with a manifesto,grassroots support, and most importantly support in all four provinces (though that may have eroded by now with all the Nationalist politics). The rumor on the street is also that the senior cadre of PPP are not interested in a deal, but want to fight it out in an election…. but BB knows that this is probably her last shot at getting power, so come hell or highwater……
This is further to my post few minutes ago.
Benazir is a seasoned politician and has inherited PPP from her father who chose to die rather than to compromise on his principle. The interest in deal or no deal shown by the people living in Pakistan and abroad clearly shows the importance of the party which is still one of the most popular political parties.
[quote post=”663″]Benazir[/quote]
, I am sure, knows very well that it was the military who was responsible for dismemberment of the country and it was the military who sent her father gallows with the help of subservient judiciary at that time. It is the military who has deposed a popularly elected government of Nawaz Sharif and it was the military who was instrumental in sacking her government.
The times have changed. The judiciary is struggling to recover their independence. Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry’s courageous stand against the General and Generals will change the landscape of the politics of the country.
Musharraf has no option but to remove his khaki and pack to go into exile.
I will post the following report in today’s DAWN of Karachi. This is self explanatory and if it is correct then all the rumours will dissipate.
http://www.dawn.com/2007/04/19/top6.htm
No deal with Musharraf, Benazir assures PML-N
By Our Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, April 18: Pakistan People’s Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto on Wednesday talked to Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) Senator Ishaq Dar by telephone in Dubai, assuring him that her party would not strike any deal with the Musharraf regime and media reports in this regard were untrue, sources told Dawn.
The sources said Ms Bhutto contacted Senator Dar after receiving information that the PML-N leadership was perturbed over reports regarding a deal between the PPP and President Pervez Musharraf, particularly after publication of her interview in a British daily.
They said the former prime minister had clarified her position and assured Mr Dar that the PPP was committed to every word of the Charter of Democracy. She told the PML-N leader not to believe any report on the issue.
She said she had directed her party leadership to counter the government’s ‘disinformation campaign’.
Meanwhile, responding to a statement of Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman that the country would break up if the PPP came into power, a spokesman for Ms Bhutto, Farhatullah Babar, said the remarks showed the maulana’s “contempt for the will of the peopleâ€