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RAWALPINDI, April 14: President General Pervez Musharraf said on Thursday he would be willing to meet opposition leader Benazir Bhutto to advance rapprochement with liberal forces, but not yet. He said Pakistan People’s Party was not helping reconciliation by planning rallies this Saturday to welcome back Asif Ali Zardari from a visit to Dubai.
“Moderate forces need to unite to suppress the extremist forces,” Gen Musharraf said in an interview when asked about reconciliation with liberal parties such as Bhutto’s. “This is what I think is extremely important from a national perspective.”
“Within this, any kind of talks or negotiations or rapprochement, one would be willing to do,” he said.
Asked whether he was willing to meet Ms Bhutto personally, Gen Musharraf, who has not hidden his distaste for the former prime minister in the past, replied: “That time has not come as yet; when the time comes, yes, one doesn’t mind meeting anyone.
“But at the moment it’s not right at all, especially with whatever is happening now,” he said referring to the PPP’s rally plans in Lahore, which the party says authorities have tried to block by arresting thousands of supporters.
“The attempt to disturb law and order in Lahore on the 16th is not conducive to good, harmonious relations,” said Gen Musharraf, who is due to leave for India that day in an attempt to move forward a slow-moving peace process.
Authorities have effectively barred the PPP from holding a rally in Lahore to welcome Zardari by extending a temporary ban on gatherings of more than three people.
Gen Musharraf defended the ban.
RISK OF CHAOS AND CONFUSION: “Processions are not allowed,” he said. “In Pakistan, if you allow processions they will break down the window panes and the traffic lights, and you end up with chaos and confusion.”
Asked why authorities nevertheless let the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal to hold anti-government rallies across Pakistan in recent months, Gen Musharraf said those gatherings were more orderly.
Ms Bhutto, prime minister for two terms in the 1980s and 1990s, has lived in self-imposed exile for fear of arrest on corruption charges since 1999 and Gen Musharraf has in the past said she would not be allowed to return to politics.
However, apparently seeking to bolster his power base and respond to Western critics pushing him to lift curbs on democracy, he has softened his position in recent months.
Officials say behind-the-scene talks have taken place between Ms Bhutto and the general’s aides to discuss a rapprochement with politicians sidelined since he seized power in a 1999 coup, but little concrete progress has been seen.
Mr Asif was released from prison on bail in November after eight years in jail on charges ranging from corruption to murder and his release raised speculation Gen Musharraf might try to improve relations with Bhutto’s party.
The latest detentions of PPP activists have come as the cabinet approved legal reforms on Wednesday, which Bhutto’s lawyer said could allow her return from exile.
The draft reforms, aimed at making justice more transparent, include proposals to give women the automatic right to bail, except in cases of murder, terrorism, narcotics or robbery.
Ms Bhutto’s lawyer Babur Awan said the reforms, which still need cabinet approval, should enable her to return from exile since the legal cases against her were bail able.—Reuters
