Pakistan's government granted an amnesty to Benazir Bhutto on corruption charges, meeting one of the former premier's main demands for a power-sharing deal, a cabinet minister said.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's government granted an amnesty to Benazir Bhutto on corruption charges, meeting one of the former premier's main demands for a power-sharing deal, a cabinet minister said on Tuesday.
Two-time prime minister Bhutto has vowed to return to Pakistan on October 18 after living in self-imposed exile in London and Dubai since 1999 because of the allegations against her.
"The government has agreed to grant an indemnity on cases against Benazir Bhutto," Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid, a close confidant of President Pervez Musharraf, told.
"The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
"The meeting decided to withdraw the cases against Benazir Bhutto."
Senior government officials said the move would soon be formalised in a presidential order issued by Musharraf, who is seeking re-election on Saturday in a bitterly contested vote.
"The president is issuing an ordinance granting amnesty to politicians against whom cases were constituted between 1985 and 1999 as part of his national reconciliation drive," a top government official told.
Another official confirmed that the formal announcement of an amnesty was likely to be made later on Tuesday.
Bhutto has held months of power-sharing talks with Musharraf but they stuck on a number of issues including her demand that politicians who served during her time in power should be given amnesty.
They also disagreed on whether Musharraf should give up his role as army chief before he seeks another five-year term in the presidential election.
Bhutto has additionally demanded that the government overturn a bar on people serving a third time as prime minister. Bhutto served as premier between 1988 and 1990 and again from 1993 to 1996.
Musharraf has vowed to quit after the vote and before November 15.
On Tuesday he named the former chief of Pakistan's main intelligence agency to be his successor as army chief, in the clearest indication yet that he will live up to his vow to become a civilian leader.
The military said Lieutenant General Ashfaq Kiyani would take up the position on Monday, indicating that the president could hang up his uniform either the same day or on Tuesday.
Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party has fielded a candidate against Musharraf in the poll but has so far not joined other opposition parties in withdrawing its MPs from parliament in protest.
Bhutto's campaign to boost her popularity at home suffered last week when she said that she would allow UN inspectors but not Western powers to question Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb.
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