Benazir-Musharraf talks hits roadblock

The ongoing dialogue between the Pakistan Peoples Party chief Benazir Bhutto and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has been stalled, after the ruling PML (Quami) refused to support a Constitutional amendment to pave the way for Bhutto to become Prime Minister for a third term.

Islamabad, Aug 31 : The ongoing dialogue between the Pakistan People's Party chief Benazir Bhutto and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has been stalled, after the ruling PML (Quami) refused to support a Constitutional amendment to pave the way for Bhutto to become Prime Minister for a third term.

Chaudhrys of Gujarat - PML President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi - and other PML leaders told Musharraf at a meeting at Aiwan-e-Sadr that they would not support a proposed constitutional package to remove the bar on Prime Ministers serving a third term, sources said.

The PML-Q leadership told Musharraf that party legislators were against any Constitutional amendment, which would prove to be their "political demise", they said.

Chaudhry Shujaat told the president that his party would neither prepare such a package nor support its passage through parliament.

"We told the President that principally these talks should have been conducted after the general elections keeping in view the performance of all the parties. This strategy would have enabled Musharraf to easily choose which party to hold talks with," sources said.

The PML-Q leadership made it clear to Musharraf that it would not allow itself to be used to hoist Bhutto, said a source privy to the meeting.

The source said that the Chaudhrys told Musharraf that they had backed him on each and every issue throughout the past seven years.

"Now the party legislators have a feeling that the president has abandoned them by holding talks with their rival party," the source quoted the PML-Q leadership, as saying.

The PML-Q leadership also opposed any legislation to remove Article 58(2b) and advised Musharraf not to doff his uniform, the Daily Times quoted a source, as saying.

The presidency is also believed to be reluctant to shed Article 58(2b), in view of the "autocratic mindset" of both former Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.

Chaudhry Shujaat said that he made it clear to Musharraf that a deal with Bhutto would damage the PML-Q.

He brushed aside the impression that 90 per cent of the issues between the government and the PPP had been settled.

"Only nine percent is through. The team in London is not authorised to sign a deal ... nothing is final," Shujaat added.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Farooq Leghari, Hamid Nasir Chattha and the Chief Ministers of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan also attended the meeting.

Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani said that that Musharraf had not yet decided to step down as Army Chief before the upcoming presidential election, as claimed by Benazir.

"No decision has been made. When he will decide, he will announce it," Durrani said.

ANI