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LONDON, Nov 27: Pakistan People’s Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto said on Sunday the government had offered to ‘freeze’ cases against her if she promised to quit politics.
She had rejected the offer to continue struggle for the rights of the people, Ms Bhutto added.
Answering questions after a day-long meeting of the party’s central executive committee, she said the party members had urged her to return to Pakistan.
“I would soon give the people good news,” she said while referring to her plans to return to Pakistan without giving any specific date or schedule and only saying, “I will return before the general elections of 2007.”
When asked to comment on President Musharraf’s statement that there was no room for Benazir Bhutto or Nawaz Sharif in Pakistani politics, the former prime minister said Gen Musharraf should review his personal reservations in the interest of the people and the country.
She said the CEC reviewed political situation in the country and the scenario up to the build-up of the elections. The PPP’s relations with its allies also came under review, she said.
RETURN URGED: Members of the CEC and federal council at the meeting urged Ms Bhutto to return to the country.
Office-bearers of the party told Dawn that CEC and FC members suggested different time-frames for Mrs Bhutto to return to the country before the next general elections, while some of them wanted her to be back by March next year. Some members suggested that the former prime minister should return immediately while others said the atmosphere was not conducive and she should return before the next general elections in 2007.
The CEC member said the anticipated meeting between Mrs Bhutto and PML (N) President Shahbaz Sharif could not take place on this occasion.
He said Mrs Bhutto might be leaving for Germany on Monday en route to Dubai and it was not confirmed if she had scheduled any meeting for Sunday evening with the PML (N) president.
INTERVIEW: The earthquake could have helped Pakistan break the political stalemate with India over the disputed Kashmir, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto said on Sunday.
Ms Bhutto criticized the response of President Pervez Musharraf’s regime to the Oct 8 disaster as too slow and claimed a civilian government would have been “more responsive” to people’s needs.
