Yes, says Bhutto; no says a Sharif aide, two Pakistani newspapers, The News and The Nation, reported citing an interview the former gave to Financial Times.
Bhutto claims the deal could present “a united front to put the army back under civilian control”
ISLAMABAD: Are former Pakistani prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif in a power-sharing deal to rule for five years each?
Yes, says Bhutto; no says a Sharif aide, two Pakistani newspapers, The News and The Nation, reported on Monday citing an interview the former gave to Financial Times.
Bhutto, in the interview, is quoted as saying: “Mr Nawaz Sharif and I agree. Mr Nawaz says ‘You should be the prime minister for the first five-year term,’ and after that five-year term he wants to run. So I hope that we can move forward.
That’s a verbal discussion between us, but that is what he has said to me.”
But Sharif’s top political aide Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, who is secretary general of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), denied Bhutto’s claim. “The people will decide in fair elections who forms the government,” Jhagra said.
The Bhutto claim, whatever its veracity, is a clear signal to President Pervez Musharraf who has promised elections for later this year, that she means to keep her political options open. benazir Bhutto said that she had struck the deal with Sharif so that the pair could present “a united front to put the army back under civilian control”.
At the same time, both Bhutto and Musharraf camps have admitted to behind-the-scene talks over a long period aimed at an electoral alliance between then former’s Pakistan peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League (Qaid), the party Musharraf is backing.
While Bhutto has laid a precondition that Musharraf shed his military uniform as the army chief, the president has said that Bhutto cannot return before the election and if she does, she would be tried in various corruption cases.
Musharraf has also said that Sharif cannot return till he completes 10 years in exile that began in 1999. Both Bhutto and
Sharif have publicly stated that they would return home in time for the elections and face the consequences.
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