Benazir wants Nawaz to be her opposition leader

Former premier Benazir Bhutto is quietly advocating the return of PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif, and wants to see him as the future Leader of the Opposition in Parliament in her bid to neutralise the powers of President Pervez Musharraf.

Islamabad, Oct 30 : Former premier Benazir Bhutto is quietly advocating the return of PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif, and wants to see him as the future Leader of the Opposition in Parliament in her bid to neutralise the powers of President Pervez Musharraf.

Background interviews with several party leaders reveal that Benazir is not bothered about the powers of the President under Article 58(2) b, in case Sharif emerges as the opposition leader in the Parliament, as he might not become part of palace intrigues unlike the past.

Political analysts believe that the only option available for Bhutto to contain Musharraf was to bring Sharif back.

PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar termed the report of preference of Sharif as opposition leader over the rest, a sort of conspiracy theory.

He said the PPP leadership was in favour of return of Nawaz Sharif as every body should be given a level playing field, and adde that they need to understand that only the people of Pakistan would decide who would be their Prime Minister and the leader of the house.

Analysts say Bhutto obviously understands that with the level of hostility between Sharif and Musharraf, it would not be possible for opposition leader and presidency to conspire against the Prime Minister as it had been done quite successfully since 1977 when opposition parties conspired to oust the Prime Minister.

Bhutto never hesitates from demanding that Sharif should come back to Pakistan. She had even been making an offer to Sharif in the past that both the former premiers should return to Pakistan in one plane to oust Musharraf.

Even at one stage it was believed that Bhutto had made a demand during the secret negotiations with the top military and civilian aides of Musharraf in Dubai and London that Sharif should not be allowed to enter into Pakistan ahead of her, analysts claim.

The impression within the PPP camp was that if Sharif was allowed to return, he might eclipse her popularity, analysts say.

The forced exile of Sharif is said to have greatly benefited Bhutto but now a new thinking was swiftly gaining popularity within the PPP camp that the party should prefer Sharif, as the future opposition leader.

ANI