Withdrawal of Interpol notices reignites PPP deal debate
By Amir Wasim & Syed Irfan Raza
ISLAMABAD, April 7: Former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif met in Dubai on Saturday amid reports that red notices issued by Interpol against Ms Bhutto and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, early last year have been quietly withdrawn on the request of the Pakistani government.
The assumed concession offered by the government comes shortly after the unexpected closure of the National Accountability Bureau’s special wing dealing with corruption cases against political leaders, particularly Ms Bhutto and Mr Zardari.
Political observers maintain that the media managers of the Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) stretched credulity to the limit when they asserted that Ms Bhutto, accompanied by PPP president Makhdoom Amin Fahim, paid a visit to the residence of PML-N senator Ishaq Dar for social chitchat with Mr Sharif.
The PPP and PML-N spokesmen said the meeting had no “political significance” because Ms Bhutto had dropped by to congratulate Messrs Sharif and Dar on recently becoming grandfathers.
Mr Sharif’s daughter is married to Mr Dar’s son. The couple had a son on Thursday.
PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar said extraordinary public interest in a meeting between Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif was reflective of a national yearning for change. “But Saturday’s meeting was just a social call by Ms Bhutto.”
When asked if the PPP chairperson had lately had a meeting with President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s close confidant, Tariq Aziz, he said: “To my knowledge, they have never met.”
PML-N information secretary Ahsan Iqbal was also at great pains to stress that no political issues came under discussion at Saturday’s meeting.
He said that contrary to what had been reported in a section of the press, Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool — another trusted aide of the president — did not have a meeting with Mr Sharif recently.
However, former information minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed remained unimpressed by the assertions of the PPP and PML-N. Restating his earlier claims, he said negotiations between the ruling establishment and the PPP were in an advanced stage. He indicated that concessions were being offered to the PPP.
But Mr Babar said red notices against Ms Bhutto and Mr Zardari were withdrawn a year ago when the PPP had informed Interpol that the former prime minister was not a fugitive and had gone abroad with the court’s permission.
Ms Bhutto has lived in London or Dubai since 1999. Mr Zardari was freed on bail in November 2004 after spending eight years in prison on charges ranging from corruption to murder.
Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao confirmed to Dawn that Interpol had removed the names of Ms Bhutto and Mr Zardari from the list of those individuals against whom red notices were issued.
Interpol makes it clear that the legal basis for a red notice is an arrest warrant or a court order issued by the judicial authorities in the country concerned. According to the BBC, the Interpol notices carried photographs and personal details of Ms Bhutto and her husband and specifically related to the Swiss case.
Mr Sherpao did not explain why no effort was made by the government to contact Interpol after the withdrawal of red notices against Ms Bhutto and Mr Zardari. “But let me assure you that we have not asked for the withdrawal of the red notices,” the interior minister said.
