September 05, 2007	Wednesday	Sha'aban 22, 1428

LAHORE, Sept 4: Federal Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat says no deal can be acceptable to the ruling PML and its coalition partners unless their interests are also safeguarded.

Talking to Dawn on Tuesday, he said without cooperation of the PML and its coalition partners no deal reportedly worked out at the UAE talks would be practicable.

“Whatever has been agreed upon will be difficult for the relevant authorities to sell to the PML, and the ruling party will be shooting itself in the foot by accepting it.”

“The PML remains the safest bet for Gen Musharraf,” said the minister who was elected on the PPP ticket in the 2002 elections but had carved out a separate group of some 20 dissident MNAs (PPP-Patriots) under the leadership of Rao Sikandar Iqbal to join hands with the military ruler and play a role in the restoration of democracy.

He said the PPP alone was not in a position to get Gen Musharraf re-elected for another term.

“The base has to be the PML and its allied parties,” he said while underlining the future role of the parties in power in the implementation of what was reported to have been agreed upon between the two sides at the second round of UAE talks.

“If the PPP leadership is striking a deal for its political future, the ruling coalition too has the right to chart an appropriate strategy to safeguard its own interests.”

Faisal Saleh said Ms Benazir Bhutto’s talks with the general had vindicated his five-year old stand that negotiations were the right way to restore democracy. He said her impatience for a deal was exposed by her allegation that ruling party president Shujaat Husain was throwing spanners in the works.

Another federal minister, Ejazul Haq, says there’s not going to be any deal whatsoever.

He said the present assemblies would not make any amendment to the Constitution to lift the term bar on the two-time former prime ministers. Also, he made it clear the president would contest the election for the next term while retaining his uniform.

The minister claimed that the Swiss case against Ms Bhutto was due to come up for hearing by the middle of the current month, and it was for this reason that the PPP chairperson was so desperate to strike a deal with Gen Musharraf.

In his opinion, the talks with the PPP leadership were the excellent way to keep the opposition parties disunited.

A ruling PML Senator, who did not like to be named, supported the talks between President Musharraf and the PPP of Ms Benazir Bhutto.

If the president was re-elected before the general elections, as was agreed upon in the talks, the PML would be a beneficiary.

He said since Gen Musharraf was entitled to retain his uniform till Dec 31, he could hold the general elections before the end of the year — a situation which would benefit the ruling party.

He said everything was being done for power, not principles, and whatever was being done by Gen Musharraf should be seen in the same light.

Supporting the talks between the two archrivals, the Senator said it was much better an option than others which could have derailed the democratic process.

He said at a time when MMA Secretary-General Maulana Fazlur Rahman too had refused to cooperate, Gen Musharraf was left with no option but to seek the PPP’s help for his re-election.

Former minister of state Ishaq Khakwani said the deal served the interests of only two individuals and had nothing for the common man.

He said many leaders in the ruling party would oppose the Musharraf-Benazir deal.

Khakwani had resigned as minister, saying he could not vote a president in uniform for another term.

However, he said he would vote for the constitutional amendment which would enable him to seek another term without waiting for two years after stepping down as army chief. Similarly, he said, he would also endorse the amendment which permitted the two-time prime ministers to go for a third term.

A top leader of the PML, who requested anonymity, said the deal would not be in the interest of the ruling party.