President seeks conciliatory course

NEW YORK—President Pervez Musharraf says he would work with the new government that political parties were trying to form in the wake of Monday’s elections, hoping that it would follow a conciliatory course.“The confrontational politics of the 1990’s should be left behind,” the president said in a major interview with The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), his first after the national polls that have universally been acknowledged as free and fair.
“We have to go for conciliatory politics and harmonious interaction within the government, between various parties and between the prime minister and the government. I will strive towards that end. On the other side, I can’t say,” he added. In the wide-ranging interview published in the Journal’s Wednesday edition, the President also discussed the judiciary, democracy, his relationship with President George W. Bush and the fight against terrorism and extremism.
Replying to a question, President Musharraf said he had not met with either Nawaz Sharif, leader of Pakistan Muslim League-N or Asif Ali Zardari, co-chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party since the election. He also made it clear that he intends to stay in office to guide Pakistan’s democratic transition, saying he has no plans to step down. “We have to move forward in a way that we bring about a stable democratic government to Pakistan.”
About the relationship between the president and the prime minister, Musharraf asserted that Pakistan now has the checks and balances in place. “The prime minister runs the government. The president has his own position, but has no authority running the government,” he said. Answering a question, the president said that restoring the former chief justice of Pakistan and other judges was not a possibility. “Legally there’s no way this can be done,” he said. “I can’t even imagine how this is doable.”
President Pervez Musharraf, confronted with a crushing political defeat, said he intends to stay in office to guide Pakistan’s democratic transition — even if it means working with a man he believes once tried to kill him. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), a day after a landmark national election delivered resounding losses to his allies in Parliament, Mr. Musharraf said he has no plans to step down. Instead, he said he wanted to help end the internecine battles between presidents and prime ministers that have marred Pakistan’s political history and precipitated military interference in the government.
“We have to move forward in a way that we bring about a stable democratic government to Pakistan,” said Mr. Musharraf. The strongman who brooked little opposition in the years after his 1999 coup now stands in a delicate spot, rejected by his own people and facing a government likely to be led by a party with reasons to despise him. He is seeking to hang on to power, even as his political base crumbles.
Sitting in his office in Islamabad in a gray pinstriped suit, Mr. Musharraf issued cautionary words to the next prime minister. “The clash would be if the prime minister and president would be trying to get rid of each other. I only hope we would avoid these clashes,” he said.
Mr. Musharraf, 64 years old, asserted that Pakistan now has the checks and balances in place to prevent any politician — or the army — from usurping power. “The prime minister runs the government. The president has his own position, but has no authority running the government,” he said.—Agencies