The Hindu : International : Possibility of deal between PPP and government recedes

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 19, 2007
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International

Possibility of deal between PPP and government recedes

Nirupama Subramanian

ISLAMABAD: In an indication of the receding possibility of reaching an understanding expected with the regime, the Pakistan People’s Party threw its weight on Tuesday with other opposition parties to oppose President Musharraf’s intention to contest the presidential elections in uniform

PPP Central Information Secretary Sherry Rehman said General Musharaf’s re-election in uniform from the present parliament was “undemocratic” and “unconstitutional.”

In a statement, Ms. Rehman said the party would oppose it on two grounds: “namely that first an army chief cannot contest presidential elections and secondly that even after retiring an army chief has to wait two years to contest elections”.

For the first time, the PPP went as far as to say that in case President Musharraf went ahead with his re-election from the present assemblies without stepping down as army chief, it would also “consider resigning from the assemblies,” a threat that it has refrained from using until now even though other Opposition parties have long urged it to commit itself to such a strategy to rob President Musharraf’s re-election of legitimacy.

Indicating that the party was interested in reviving contact with the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), the PPP said it would finalise its parliamentary strategy in consultation with the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD), a joint venture of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.

The PML (N) leader had pronounced the ARD dead when Ms. Bhutto’s talks with President Musharraf came out in the open. But his party said on Tuesday that second-level leaders of both parties were in touch to set up an early meeting.

Ruling party members said that the President’s undertaking to the court that he would be a civilian president in his second term was evidence that President Musharraf was fulfilling his promise to make Pakistan a true democracy.

PML (Q) Secretary-General Mushahid Hussain Syed said the President’s statement to the court showed the country was moving from a “khaki to a civilian democracy.”

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