BB keeps mum on resuming talks with Musharraf

WASHINGTON—Pakistani ex-premier Benazir Bhutto Sunday welcomed US calls for President Pervez Musharraf to scrap emergency rule but refused to be drawn on whether she might rejoin talks with the military ruler.
Benazir Bhutto said while talking to a US-based news network that Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte “did the right thing” in pressing Musharraf, during talks in Islamabad, to shed his army uniform and lift the emergency before elections planned for January.
“But this nation is waiting for General Musharraf to give a date to... retire as army chief. He was supposed to retire on November 15th. And he hasn’t done so,” said Bhutto, who was freed from house arrest early Friday. “And we just wonder how we can have fair elections when so many people are under arrest and the media is gagged,” she said.
Negroponte urged Musharraf and Bhutto to resume power-sharing talks, which Washington had been eyeing as a moderate bulwark against extremism. Bhutto appeared to scrap hope of a deal last week, ruling out further talks and vowing never to serve under Musharraf.
Asked if she might work with Musharraf if he complies with the demands, she said “let’s stop a moment and see whether he first responds to Washington.” “Let’s first see whether Mr Negroponte’s visit bears fruit in terms of General Musharraf retiring as chief of army staff before the new date that he has set himself.
“But even if he does, there are other issues — a fair election doesn’t just happen because one says one wants a fair election, we have to see proof of that.” In his talks with Negroponte, Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup, repeated a pledge to resign as army chief before taking office for a second time as president. But there was no sign of any date for halting the two-week-old emergency, which he says should stay in place until general elections by January 9.
Former Premier Benazir Bhutto may soon face the same corruption cases that forced her into exile for eight years as the amnesty lifting the charges was likely to be overturned, said Attorney General Malik Qayyum.
Five writs have been issued against the amnesty, which President Pervez Musharraf granted to Bhutto by promulgating an ordinance ahead of her return to the country on October 18, in the Supreme Court and it would not survive the challenge, General Malik Muhammad Qayyum told ‘The Sunday Times’. “I don’t think it will survive the challenge,” said Qayyum. “Whoever drafted it, it was not happily worded. Only the courts can decide to throw charges out, not governments.” Qayyum said he would also be defending the President’s eligibility for office and giving his opinion on the Emergency. He was referring to the petitions taken by the apex court challenging Musharraf’s candidature in the October 6 Presidential poll, which the General swept.
Qayyum said that political motives would play no part when discussing challenges to the Bhutto amnesty, which will be heard by the Supreme Court once it has ruled on the legality of the Emergency.
“Before Bhutto came back, the President had directed me to defend it to the maximum, but now I’m not sure what the stance will be,” he said. “The thing is, they erred in drawing it up.”
Opposition leaders on Sunday gave a mix response on the press conference of the US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte. According to BBC, PML-N Chairman Raja Zafarullah commented that it seems from the statements of the US Secretary State that the US is still backing President Musharraf. John Negroponte, he says, should also talk about the removed judges of the apex court.
MMA leader Munawar Hassan welcomed the statements of the US State Secretary about the holding of elections in January. However, he mulled that political stability cannot be achieved in Pakistan without the restoration of the independence of judiciary. However, PPP Central Leader Farhatullah Babar refused to comment by saying that “ Mss Bhutto can only say something in this regard”.—Agencies