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| November 9, 2002 | Saturday | Ramazan 3,1423 |
US media continues to focus on Pakistan elections
WASHINGTON, Nov 8: Despite this week’s key mid-term polls and its aftermath at home, the United States media continues to focus on the Oct 10 elections in Pakistan and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal’s (MMA’s) surprise win, with some predicting that Islamabad would not allow the MMA, a religious parties alliance, to head the central government.
In a signed article, former chief editor of The Washington Times and the United Press International, Arnaud de Borchgrave, claimed that the US administration “dragooned Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf into holding” last month’s elections, which “have proved to be a disaster.”
He appears particularly upset about the possibility of Maulana Fazlur Rehman becoming the next prime minister and describes him as “a friend of both Mulla Mohammed Omar, the former Taliban leader, and Osama Bin Laden.”
He also criticizes the Pakistan government for allowing “one of Pakistan’s most notorious homegrown terrorists Maulana Azam Tariq” for contesting the election. “Tariq emerged from confinement a free man, he stepped into a limo and was driven away by his own armed guards,” says de Borchgrave.
Reminding his readers that the US State Department praised the Oct 10 elections as “an important milestone in the ongoing transition to democracy,” he quotes one of the Bush administration’s ranking national security officials as telling him that Washington wants religious parties to be included in the future political setup in Pakistan because it believes that it’s “better to have them in than out.”
Meanwhile, other reports in the US media speak of the efforts in Islamabad to form a government of national consensus which, they say, are aimed at preventing Maulana Fazl from becoming the country’s prime minister.
According to these reports, a senior PPP leader, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, is likely to head this government as prime minister.
On Wednesday evening, President Musharraf chaired an emergency cabinet meeting, which decided to delay the inaugural session of the new parliament for a week, says another report distributed by the international wire services. The parliament was scheduled to meet on Friday to administer oath to the 342 lawmakers elected in the elections.
According to these reports, the decision to delay the session followed a move by the main opposition leader and former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, to back a pro-Taliban cleric as the country’s future prime minister.
The reports call Fazl one of the key leaders of a MMA, which fought the election on an anti-American stance. It emerged as the largest party in the provinces of Northwest Frontier and Balochistan, both bordering Afghanistan where anti-American feelings are high, says a report.
Benazir, who heads the PPP, decided to back Fazl after Musharraf refused to allow her to return home and lead her party. Before making her move, she also travelled to Washington where she tried to convince US officials to dump Musharraf and support democratic forces instead, the report said.
Quoting sources close to her, the reports say the Americans appeared reluctant to abandon Musharraf, who is considered a key ally for supporting the US-led war against terrorism.
But Benazir’s move to back the pro-Taliban religious leader, forced both Islamabad and Washington to take the Pakistani leader more seriously, according to the United Press International.
Senior aides to Musharraf told journalists in Islamabad that the US embassy in Islamabad is now helping Musharraf negotiate the deal for forming a government of national consensus, said the report.
According to these reports, besides Fahim, the new government would also include several senior members of Benazir’s Pakistan People’s Party.
The pro-army faction of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) will also get a major share in the new government. The faction has the largest number of seats in the new parliament, 118 in a house of 342.
The PPP has 81 seats followed by the MMA, which has 60.
The PPP leader’s move to back Fazl caused concern in Islamabad and Washington.
If he succeeds, he would be the first religious leader ever to head a government in Pakistan.
Political pundits in Pakistan, however, described Benazir’s support for Fazl as a political move aimed at strong-arming Musharraf.
Before announcing support for Fazl, Benazir sent demands to the president, urging him to withdraw corruption charges against her, release her husband Asif Zardari and ensure that she will not be arrested when she returned to Pakistan.
Benazir has been living in exile in London and Dubai for about the past four years.
In return, Benazir offered to support Musharraf for the next five years.
Apparently, it was after her “not-so-successful” meetings with the US officials in Washington that Benazir decided to back Fazl, PPP sources say.
Benazir could still shift her stance if Islamabad and Washington show interest in her demands and allow her to return home safely, the sources stressed.
According to the new deal, being finalized in Islamabad, the MMA will be allowed to form the government in the Northwest Frontier Province where it has a clear majority.
The province of Punjab will be given to the pro-Musharraf faction of the Pakistan Muslim League while Benazir’s party will rule the southern Sindh province with the help of a secular but violent ethnic group, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).
The MQM will also share power with the PPP and PML-Q in the centre.
In Balochistan, the military government is trying to put together a coalition of political and tribal groupings to prevent the MMA from forming government in another province bordering Afghanistan.
Government sources in Islamabad said if the negotiations with the PPP succeeded, Benazir’s husband may also be released on bail. He has already spent more than six years in prison.
They said other party leaders may also be pardoned but Benazir may still have to stay away from Pakistan for two years.
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