LAHORE, Aug 8: Former Punjab governor Malik Ghulam Mustafa Khar criticised Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairperson Benazir Bhutto on Wednesday over what he called her efforts to strike a deal with Gen Pervez Musharraf. He called it “a compromise between the two to serve their vested interests”.

Mr Khar told a news conference at the Lahore Press Club had the deal been in the national interest, it would not have been kept secret. He said he would sincerely advise Ms Bhutto to return to Pakistan and assess the popular mood about the PPP’s shift in policy.

“I am confident the mass opposition to the deal will make the chairperson think twice before going for a deal as the people in general and PPP workers in particular abhor any such idea,” he said.

He said even if the deal materialised, the PPP would get nothing except playing a second fiddle to the “real power”. He said the country’s establishment had always opposed the PPP and its leadership and the junta would send the “government of compromise” packing within six months. The parties that benefit from the situation would be the ruling Pakistan Muslim League and its coalition partner, Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

Mr Khar said he favoured a safe exit for Gen Musharraf, but Ms Bhutto’s deal with the regime would be a blow to the lawyers’ struggle, to the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy and its Charter of Democracy and the country’s political and democratic structure which had been weakened by prolonged military rule.

He said when the two major parties — the PPP and the PML-N — signed the Charter of Democracy, people saw in it a beginning of a new chapter in the country’s history. “It gave the people a hope and they started dreaming about a new democratic future,” he said.

Mr Khar said the meeting between Gen Musharraf and Ms Bhutto in Dubai turned people’s hope into despair. He said all events regarding the deal had full backing of the western powers who wanted to see Ms Bhutto and Gen Musharraf working together to serve their agenda.

He said the recent US law that linked US aid to Pakistan with Islamabad’s efforts in the war on terror, was a manifestation of the western intentions.

He said if Ms Bhutto signed a deal with Musharraf, she would not be welcome in Pakistan and her party would suffer. “But I am confident that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s party will not lose political ground because its workers have waged a democratic struggle which is second to none,” he said.

Mr Khar warned the people that the rulers might attack the judiciary again. He did not elaborate but said the appointment of Malik Muhammad Qayyum as attorney-general had created suspicion in the minds of the people.