What are Benazir Bhutto and Pervez Musharraf up to?

Posted on April 19, 2007
Filed Under >Adil Najam, ATP Poll, People, Politics
78 Comments
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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.

78 responses to “What are Benazir Bhutto and Pervez Musharraf up to?”

  1. Wasiq Ali says:

    Husain Haqqani might know something we do not. Even if we do not agree with his analysis, it is a useful addition to the ongoing discussion.

    Guys! There is no need to froth at the mouth against Benazir Bhutto or the mere idea of a deal. If the deal is to pave the way for transition from military rule, that is good. If it is only for BB’s personal benefit, she will lose public support and so we need not get all heated up on the matter. Politics is the art of the possible.

    For those who hate BB and believe she and her husband are criminals I say that there are only two ways of dealing with a crime: Punish it in a court of law or let public opinion decide.

    Efforts to punish Ms Bhutto in courts of law have failed and ten years have gone by.

    Now there will be an opportunity to address her “crimesâ€

  2. zakoota says:

    Listen all my good friends,

    We all recently heard about “Double Shah” (A guy who promised people to double their money in a given time and people actually gave him money thinking that their money will be doubled in a short period of time, 70 days I believe),so finally this quake was caught, people protested against the authorities! they protested because they really thought that he can double the money in real!

    Then there was this mobile phone virus mania, where people thought that some deadly virus is going to attack them if that get some unknown call and believe me they kept phones off and really was a scare among masses.

    These are just a few recent examples of how simple people are made stupid.

    Now this is the situation of our beloved nation. Can they decide such an important issue whether BB will be better or mushy? or anyone else perhaps??? our people know that who so ever that will be, nothing will be done for the betterment of themselves and everyday prices will be going sky high as usual.

    Can any one tell me if any political party has ever protested against the low standard of our education? poor condition of our roads? a rather miserable overall infrastructure? rocketing high prices of everyday commodities? and biggest of all, the instable peace?

    All they are doing is blaming each other to grab seats and nothing else.

    What difference it make? who cares if Shoukat Aziz will no political background becomes Prime Minister without any efforts. A guy like Moin Qureshi comes from somewhere, whom probably no body knew, becomes the caretaker PM of the nation? Examples like these are hundreds in number?

    So who cares about the people? tell me who does???

  3. Aqil Sajjad says:

    BB has a history of playing a double game and back stabbing others.

    She struck a deal with the military in 1988 agreeing that the military would retain control over foreign policy, but went against it when she met Ragev Gandhi. In 1993, she backstabbed NS by striking a deal with GIK. Last yeear, she signed the charter of democracy with NS, and now she is dealing with Musharraf. We should not be surprised if she also stabs Musharraf at the first opportunity, but for now, she needs to strike a deal with him to return. Old habits don’t go away easily, especially for an opportunist like BB.

  4. Musharraf Says Bhutto Not Returning: Really?

    It appears that Benazir is going to save the presidency of Musharraf through an unwritten understanding of helping her get back in power. She denies it but she has never been honest or trust worthy and she would do anything just to get in and stay in power, just as she was responsible for firing at a demonstration in which her mother was taking part to promote Benazir brother’s political position and it was during her misrule that her brother was assassinated of which she did not even hold a fair enquiry thus strengthening her implicit and illicit approval if not outright planning of the despicable murder, most definitely in the knowledge of her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, if not his doing, and he was let out of the prison by Musharraf *courts in Pakistan being manipulated by the rulers* as a first significant gesture to Benazir for setting up the ground for future political understanding! So once again, it appears that the people of Pakistan would suffer through the machinations of dictators and politicians. If Benazir was sincere she would join PML (N) and MMA and the protesting lawyers in a country wide mass movement to oust the dictator and then maybe even the MQM would also join it and the bandwagon effect would also possibly bring the PML (Q) turncoats around! BUT SHE IS UNSURE OF HER POLITICAL POPULARITY AND WOULD PREFER THE BACK DOOR THROUGH SOME SUBTLE ELECTION RIGGING IN HER FAVOR IN EXCHANGE FOR MAKING MUSHARRAF PRESIDENT THROUGH THE PARLIAMENT FOR THE NEXT FIVE YEARS! WHAT A SHAME! And, Musharraf’s playing with the cases in the courts against her and against Zardari is for political maneuvering and if she is really corrupt as was alleged by the President of Pakistan, Leghari from her political party who dismissed her government on these charges among others, including that of political incompetence, she should first be cleared by the courts without their being influenced one way or the other by the despot! The autocrat should not be allowed to continue and the only good he can do for the country is to speed up and have the pending cases against all politicians tried honestly, and if still possible hold free and impartial elections and get out!!!

  5. Jamshed. A says:

    What a disaster it will be…

    As I said in a previous post, Bhutto family must not be allowed to rule Pakistan as they have raped the country for many years.

    Power should be given to Pakistani’s who are good for Pakistan. Perhaps its time to have some new and fresh blood for a change. How long Pakistani’s have to suffer over and over again.

    God help us all

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