Re: ‘Deal done’ - Benazir agrees to Musharraf’s re-election in uniform
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=9354
**Benazir turns hostile to Nawaz Sharif **
PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto finally drew battle lines with the arch rival of General Musharraf – Mian Nawaz Sharif – when she termed him ‘unreliable and quarrelsome’ and declared that there would be no seat adjustment with the PML-N. Behaving like the-third-time future prime minister, she told a party meeting in London soon after her Abu Dhabi visit that the Chaudhrys of Gujrat would have no role in the future caretaker set-up. She declared the MMA a ‘patron of terrorists’ and blamed it for providing sanctuary to terrorists. Ms Bhutto said all this during a meeting of the PPP’s ticket aspirants from the Punjab, sources told The News on telephone from London. According to the sources, Benazir blasted the PML-N and its leadership when a party leader from Gujranwala recommended seat adjustment with the PML-N in a constituency where Nawaz League had a strong candidate. **She gave a big ‘No’ to his suggestion and said seat adjustment with the PML-N was out of the question. Nawaz Sharif is “unreliable and quarrelsome” and always picked quarrels with the army chiefs and the presidents of his time. “First, he (Nawaz) was not on good terms with President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, later developed differences with the army chief (Asif Nawaz), then with the chief justice (Sajjad Ali Shah) and then with another army chief (Gen Musharraf),” she said and added it was difficult for the PPP to take along the PML-N. ** She said Nawaz wanted his deal with Musharraf to end at eight years and did not want to complete his ten-year exile. Instead of making efforts to cut another deal with Musharraf, he was blaming her for the deal.
Nawaz is a leader with whom she had pledged to wage a joint fight against the dictatorship and to field joint candidates in the coming elections. Things have altogether changed now for Ms Bhutto who is going to herald a new era of friendship with the General, courtesy to the efforts of the Uncle Sam with the US Vice President Dick Cheney emerging as her strong supporter. Defending her deal efforts, she said the PML-N and MMA should look at their own misdeeds instead of blaming her for the deal. The PML-N leadership had cut a deal for going into exile in Saudi Arabia to escape legal action against them and the MMA helped in incorporating the LFO into the Constitution, in a bid to secure concessions from the military establishment, she said. She also ruled out any sort of partnership with the MMA and said terrorists were often recovered from their homes and, as such, the PPP could not take them along in the future set-up. Ms Bhutto assured the ticket aspirants that her candidates would be provided a smooth sailing in the elections. She directed the party leadership of the Punjab chapter that tickets should not be awarded to PML-Q defectors in constituencies where the party had winning candidates. Although, she okayed a number of candidates for tickets, Ms Bhutto termed them as potential candidates and said the final decision would be made just before the elections, adding that many in the PML-Q had contacted her for tickets. Neither did she take the party members into confidence about her meeting with General Musharraf in Abu Dhabi nor did anybody muster up courage to stand up and question her dual standards. She, however, said ‘thanks’ when a ticket aspirant congratulated her on ‘successful’ dialogue with General Musharraf and expressed solidarity with her. “Although, she did not speak a single word on the Abu Dhabi meeting, her body language showed she was jubilant,” an insider commented. According to a source, Ms Bhutto had no prior schedule to fly to Abu Dhabi. The dramatic development took place when her close friend in Washington, Tariq Malik, arrived in London. Ms Bhutto held one-on-one meeting with him for 40 minutes and later Rehman Malik joined them. It was followed by their plan to fly to Abu Dhabi. A ticket aspirant from Gujrat complained against the Chaudhrys of Gujrat and said he would be in great trouble if the Chaudhrys got share in the caretaker set-up. Ms Bhutto made it clear that the Chaudhrys would have no role in the caretaker set-up and that the PPP candidates would be provided with level-playing field. She also took a strong notice of the life threats issued by the PPP Mandi Bahaudin’s president Tariq Tarar to Shahid Ranjha, who is a ticket aspirant for a National Assembly seat. Tarar, getting wind of Ranjha’s plan, threatened to kill him if he went ahead with this plan. Tarar, who is non-graduate, wants his maternal nephew to contest from that seat on the PPP ticket. The issue was taken up during a meeting with Benazir when Ranjha complained to her about the threats from Tarar. Benazir took serious note of such tactics and warned him to behave in future.