Hydrablog

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/30/world/asia/29cnd-pakistan.html
August 30, 2007
Musharraf Said to Agree to Drop Role as Army Chief
By CARLOTTA GALL and SALMAN MASOOD [Pakistan] [south asia] [Pakistan as the new Afghanistan] [ongoing tensions between Afghanistan’s President Karzai and Pakistan’s President Musharraf] [Pakistan seemingly teetering on the brink—but the brink of what precisely?] [the question about whether Musharraf can holdout until fall elections—probably October—just moved closer to being moot] [democratization in Pakistan] [former pm nawaz sharif and perhaps Bhutto] [followup] [*****]
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Aug. 29 — The exiled former prime minister Benazir Bhutto said Wednesday that Gen. Pervez Musharraf had agreed to resign as army chief as part of a deal that would allow him to serve another term [****]as president and for her to return to Pakistan to contest parliamentary elections.
“We’re very pleased that General Musharraf has taken the decision to listen to the people of Pakistan by taking the decision to take off the uniform,” she said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I expected that he will step down before the presidential elections, but that is for the president to say.”
There was no immediate confirmation from General Musharraf. But his minister of railways, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, said at a news conference: “There is no more uniform issue. It has been settled and the president will make an announcement.” The news conference was reported by the state-run news agency. Asked later if General Musharraf would take off his uniform before standing for reelection, he said: “Maybe.”
General Musharraf’s dual positions as military head and president have been the focus of increasing furor in Pakistan, and in repeated interviews over the last several weeks, Ms. Bhutto has been unswerving in her insistence that he step down from the military role.
In a separate interview, Ms. Bhutto told the Pakistani independent television channel Aaj: “Eighty to ninety percent of the issues have been settled. Ten to 20 percent have yet to be decided.”
She added, “Some matters relating to a balance of power between the Parliament and presidency are still pending.”
General Musharraf, who took power in a military coup in 1999, had plans to run for re-election to a five-year term before Oct. 15 in a vote of the national and provincial assemblies, but growing opposition to his rule, including within the newly independent Supreme Court, has raised the possibility of the move being ruled unconstitutional.
A deal with Ms. Bhutto, who has been living abroad for most of the last decade in self-imposed exile avoiding corruption charges, could allow General Musharraf to push through a constitutional amendment and continue as president for another term.
Senior aides of General Musharraf, including the head of the powerful Inter Services Intelligence, Lt. Gen. Ashfaq Pervaiz Kiyani, have been negotiating with Ms. Bhutto in London. The involvement of General Kiyani is an indication of the serious level of the discussions.
The two leaders have been discussing a deal for months and held an unannounced meeting in the United Arab Emirates on July 27, but General Musharraf continued to send out conflicting signals about his plans, as some in the ruling party which backs him expressed opposition to a deal with Ms Bhutto.
Then a Supreme Court ruling last week allowing General Musharraf’s most serious opponent, the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, to return from exile, [***] seems to have injected some extra urgency into the negotiations.
Mr. Sharif, who was overthrown and imprisoned by General Musharraf, who was then his chief of army staff, is opposed to the general continuing in power in any capacity and has vowed to oppose his reelection. After the court ruling, he said he would return to Pakistan “within days” to prepare for elections and would announce the date of his return Thursday.
With the prospect of a political rival upstaging her, Ms. Bhutto also prepared to bring forward her return to Pakistan and toughened her demands in negotiations with the leadership, Pakistan’s national dailies reported.
According to the widely respected daily Dawn, she told the general’s team that her party’s parliamentarians would resign if he tried to be reelected while holding on to the post of army chief. If he were to resign as army chief, however, they would merely abstain and so not invalidate the vote. She has also offered to support his election as president in a new vote after a new parliament is installed and when she hopes to hold a majority in parliament.
Both Ms. Bhutto and General Musharraf need constitutional amendments passed before any election. [****] Ms Bhutto wants a ban on prime ministers standing for a third term lifted and a withdrawal of the presidential power to dissolve parliament. General Musharraf needs to get round a rule that demands a government official wait two years after resigning before standing for elected office.
The minister for parliamentary affairs, Sher Afghan Niazi, said he has already requested parliament be summoned from Sept. 7 to 28. He did not say if any constitutional amendment. Government officials have frequently mentioned the third week of Sept. as a suitable time for the presidential election.
Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company