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ISLAMABAD, April 16: The government and the People’s Party made conflicting statements on Monday about a ‘deal’ between them. The PPP poured scorn over claims that the party had agreed to support President Pervez Musharraf’s re-election from the present assemblies, but the railways minister asserted that an ‘agreement is in the final stages’.
A spokesman for the PPP said the party believed that the president’s re-election from the present assemblies would be unconstitutional.
On the other hand, Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed went so far as to spell out details of the deal, saying it would be implemented in three phases.
He said the sequence would be: (i) the president’s re-election; (ii) withdrawal of cases against Ms Bhutto, and (iii) her return to Pakistan.
He said the deal would be finalised on the basis of ‘quid pro quo’. “The signs of a deal will be visible in two months.”
Farhatullah Babar, a former senator, said a section of the press had falsely reported that the PPP’s Chairperson, Benazir Bhutto, had stated in an interview with London’s Sunday Times she would support Gen Musharraf's bid to seek re-election from the present assemblies.
“In fact the Sunday Times interview, published on April 15, does not make any such claim.” He dismissed Railway Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed’s claim that a deal was in an ‘advanced stage’ as rubbish.
“He (the minister) is trying to capture newspaper space which has been denied to him since his shunting to the railways ministry.”
Mr Babar said this was not the first time that Sheikh Rasheed had made such an ‘outlandish claim’, recalling an earlier instance when ‘he ate his words after proclaiming a deal’.
The PPP spokesman alleged the government had resorted to disinformation in order to create dissension and dismay among the opposition workers.
In reply to a question, he said his party had never entered into ‘formal negotiations’ with the government.
However, he said, ‘informal contacts through intermediaries have been taking place from time to time’.
Mr Babar said the two sides had established channels of communication at ‘different levels and different tiers’ and there was a time when he himself took part in ‘such informal contacts’. He, however, hastened to add: “This was before the charter of democracy was signed.”
About the impression created after the publication of Benazir Bhutto’s Sunday Times interview, he said Ms Bhutto denied reports of a deal between her and the Musharraf government.
The headline of the Sunday Times report: ‘Defiant Bhutto plans to return’ sums up the mood and thrust of Ms Bhutto’s interview, the PPP spokesman observed.
SHEIKH RASHEED: The railway minister said the PML and the PPP would contest the forthcoming elections separately and the mode of cooperation would be decided later.
Speaking at a press conference, Sheikh Rasheed praised Benazir Bhutto, saying she was ‘playing her role in the current political impasse with intelligence and wisdom’.
“Benazir Bhutto has been playing an important role against extremism and terrorism, and she would continue to do so. “Despite being the minister in charge of railways, I’m a well-informed member of the government and always keep a close eye on the political developments in the country,” he said.
Sheikh Rasheed said the ruling party was prepared to elect President General Pervez Musharraf in uniform for five years. “This process will be completed by Nov 16 as per the constitutional requirement. The ruling PML has enough votes to re-elect President Musharraf.”
M. Ziauddin in London adds: Sources close to the PPP have been disowning the most controversial part of Ms Bhutto’s interview. __ the portion in which she is reported to have said she wanted a deal with the president, but that it would be `premature’ to say one was imminent.
The sources said: “When asked by the Sunday Times about the reports of a deal between her and the Musharraf regime she said that there was no deal.”
However, these sources appeared reluctant to deny in unambiguous terms the part of the interview in which she had said she wanted a deal with Musharraf.
They tried to hide behind an excuse that since the PPP chairperson was in transit at present, it was not `physically possible for her to issue a denial’.
