Bhutto: Musharraf to quit as army chief By PAISLEY DODDS, Associated Press Writer
52 minutes ago
LONDON - Pakistan's exiled former prime minister said Wednesday that President Gen. Pervez Musharraf had agreed to step down as military chief in a move she expected before the next presidential election.
Such an agreement would be a key step forward in political negotiations for a power-sharing deal with the opposition.
Benazir Bhutto, who has been engaged in talks with Musharraf on a power-sharing deal, also said corruption charges would be dropped against her and dozens of other lawmakers as part of the negotiations to restore civilian rule.
Bhutto, a two-time prime minister who left Pakistan in 1999 to avoid a government collapse, represents Pakistan's main opposition party.
In a telephone interview with The Associated Press from London, she confirmed reports that Musharraf had agreed to step down as military chief.
"We're very pleased that Gen. Musharraf has taken the decision to listen to the people of Pakistan by taking the decision to take off the uniform," Bhutto told the AP. "I expected that he will step down (as army chief) before the presidential elections, but that is for the president to say."
There was no immediate reaction from Musharraf to Bhutto's comments.
Earlier, a close Musharraf ally, Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, confirmed the two sides had reached an agreement regarding Musharraf's military role. "Both sides have agreed on the issue of uniform," he told reporters.
Envoys for the U.S.-allied president have been trying to work out a pact with Bhutto that would rescue his bid for another five-year presidential term.
Bhutto and other opposition leaders argue the constitution obliges Musharraf, who seized power in a coup in 1999, to give up his post as military chief before he asks lawmakers for a fresh mandate in September or October.
However, Musharraf has insisted the constitution allows him to remain in uniform until the end of 2007 and has left open what will happen after that.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Tom Casey would not comment directly on the reports that Musharraf and Bhutto had come to a deal.
"Our principal concern in Pakistan is that there be free, fair and transparent elections held in which all legitimate political forces in the country have an opportunity to participate," Casey said. "We certainly want to see the Pakistanis have an electoral process that results in a government that they feel represents their interests."
Musharraf has seen his authority erode since March, when he tried unsuccessfully to remove the Supreme Court's top judge. The move triggered protests that grew into a broad campaign against his continued rule.
The court reinstated the judge in July, raising expectations that it will uphold legal challenges to Musharraf's re-election. The court on Wednesday admitted a petition filed by Qazi Hussain Ahmad, head of the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party, against Musharraf's dual role as president and military chief.
Last week, the court ruled that Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister toppled in 1999 who is also living in exile, can return to Pakistan ahead of parliamentary elections due by January.
Sharif quickly denounced Musharraf as a dictator who must be removed from the political scene.
In an interview published in Wednesday's Financial Times, Sharif said he would return before the start of the holy month of Ramadan in mid-September.
Government threats to arrest him on charges dating back to the coup would strengthen his support, he said.
"Today the people, civil society, the judiciary, the political forces and the media are on one side, and the dictator and his shrinking support are on the other side," Sharif was quoted as saying.
He said he felt "let down by the United States," which he has accused of confusing Musharraf's interests with those of Pakistan as a nation.
Musharraf urged Sharif on Wednesday to abide by an agreement he signed in 2000 to spend a decade in exile in Saudi Arabia in exchange for his release from a jail term.
Sharif should "show character and not violate the agreement," Musharraf said, according to the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan news agency.
The prospect of Sharif making a tumultuous return has added to the urgency of an accommodation between Musharraf and Bhutto, who share a relatively liberal, pro-Western outlook and stress the need to prevent the political crisis from destabilizing the nuclear-armed nation.
"I can foresee the external and internal threats and the vested interests that want to create an atmosphere of uncertainty, and urge the people to be wary of it," Musharraf said.
Musharraf had vowed to prevent either former leader from re-entering Pakistan.
He blames them for the corruption and economic problems that nearly bankrupted the country in the 1990s, when Bhutto and Sharif each had two short-lived turns as prime minister.
But with the United States pressing for more democracy as well as a redoubled effort against al-Qaida and Taliban militants near the Afghan border, Musharraf recently began calling for political reconciliation and an alliance of moderates to defeat extremists.
Ahmed, the railways minister, said an understanding between Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party and Musharraf was expected to be finalized this week.
An accord is expected to include constitutional amendments to allow Musharraf to continue as president and lift bars to Bhutto again becoming prime minister.
Geopolitically, Pakistan might be the world's most strategic place right now. This raises a few questions for me. Will Musharraf abide by his word? Will Pakistan fall into its previous pattern and experience another coup in a few years if he does indeed hand over most power to civillians? And most importantly for us, Pakistan is one of China's main reigional partners. How will this affect their relationship?
