'Mush and Bhutto deal depends on polls'
Power-sharing deal between President Musharraf and former Premier Bhutto will depend on the upcoming general elections.
By PTI |
ISLAMABAD: Any power-sharing deal between President Pervez Musharraf and former self-exiled Premier Benazir Bhutto will depend on the results of the upcoming general elections in Pakistan, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said.
"With due respect, it is for the people of Pakistan who would decide who gets elected. Naturally, what these contacts result in, in terms of the impact on elections or post-elections, is premature to say," Aziz told 'The New York Times' over the telephone from the Islamic nation's capital.
Musharraf and Bhutto had recently met in the UAE and reportedly reached a quid pro quo deal which will ensure his re-election in military uniform and her return from self exile to take part in the general polls slated for later this year.
The Prime Minister also spurned the US involvement in negotiating the deal, saying it could hurt the parties involved.
"Friendly countries are entitled to their views and we listen to them, but at the end of the day, Pakistanis are a very proud people and they want to manage things themselves."
"These discussions are driven by local political considerations; the moment other considerations creep in, it hurts all the stakeholders," he was quoted as saying. Reiterating that the government was committed to holding free and fair elections, Aziz said that only pending court cases were preventing Bhutto and deposed former Premier Nawaz Sharif from returning to Pakistan to take part in the polls.
"There're a host of legal cases against both," he said. Aziz, however, said that though Bhutto was free to return, Sharif, who was forced out of power when Musharraf seized control in a coup in 1999, had entered into an agreement with the government to go abroad into exile for having charges against him dropped.
"With due respect, it is for the people of Pakistan who would decide who gets elected. Naturally, what these contacts result in, in terms of the impact on elections or post-elections, is premature to say," Aziz told 'The New York Times' over the telephone from the Islamic nation's capital.
Musharraf and Bhutto had recently met in the UAE and reportedly reached a quid pro quo deal which will ensure his re-election in military uniform and her return from self exile to take part in the general polls slated for later this year.
The Prime Minister also spurned the US involvement in negotiating the deal, saying it could hurt the parties involved.
"Friendly countries are entitled to their views and we listen to them, but at the end of the day, Pakistanis are a very proud people and they want to manage things themselves."
"These discussions are driven by local political considerations; the moment other considerations creep in, it hurts all the stakeholders," he was quoted as saying. Reiterating that the government was committed to holding free and fair elections, Aziz said that only pending court cases were preventing Bhutto and deposed former Premier Nawaz Sharif from returning to Pakistan to take part in the polls.
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"There're a host of legal cases against both," he said. Aziz, however, said that though Bhutto was free to return, Sharif, who was forced out of power when Musharraf seized control in a coup in 1999, had entered into an agreement with the government to go abroad into exile for having charges against him dropped.
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