In 2014 Musharraf's extended (second) term will expire. So it will be amended to allow him to be re-elected for a 3rd term as President. The other provisions like the graduate condition are not going to be amended, as no party has really argued against it. As the parliament after next expires in 2016, it is only then that the likes of BB or NS will be allowed to run for office of PM if they wanted to. But if the natural political process is allowed to run until then, then who knows what other genuine leaders will have entered the scene by then?
Haris: it's standard practice for the military to negotiate with civilian parties..they did so in 1988 when they were not going to allow Benazir to form her first government..at that time the military was in a bad situation (not as bad as they were when they asked ZAB to takeover) the basic ground rules were simple..no civilian can touch the army budget or investigate army expenses or corruption..Afghan policy with respect to the Afghan mujahidin and taliban and the nuke programme are off limits to civilians. That was the framework for pretty much every civilan government afterwards (and as you can tell they did such a stellar job with Afghanistan, India and the nuke programme)
Right now the negotiations ongoing are because the fauji sardars are not sure which way to go ahead..clinch a deal with the PPP (minus BB) and secure a PPP-PML win through the elections..the alternative view is the more likely one..use the carrot and stick to ensure election success before during and after the election in the way they did in the local elections..that way they guarantee his re-election and the PML will sweep the (s)elections without having to negotiate with anyone..the reason why the PPP-PML plan is hard to work out is because of credibility..Mush simply has none after breaking his word on not staying in power, cleaning up the system, taking of his uniform and provincial autonomy to the Baloch it would be very hard for a political party to deal with someone so unreliable.
Corruption is non issue for the military as it always has been..for Mush he abandoned the original clean up after 2001 when he decided he wanted a new political ally (these are historical facts many of the people in NAB originally were Imran Khan supporters..they've been mostly hounded out now). All the rest the swiss cases and the rest is mainly a way of "detaching" BB from her party the same way they tried to detach zardari from her and the same way they tried to detach Shahbaz from Nawaz..so its not that people like Imran Khan have changed ..it's that Mush has changed his priorities to staying in power at all costs.
The other possible reason for all this factionalism ..is that the guys sense that things may change soon..either Musharraf making some form of deal with the (corrupt and suddenly clean) opposition or by his ouster and they want to have their turn as Minister before that happens (and before they defect back to the new rising sun)
Lets not restrict this to punjab and sindh,all voters in Pakistan divided,supporting some political party or the other.In balochistan it is the nationalistic parties,as in NWFP and then u have mqm and JI in Karachi.:D
The biggest reason for this is jahalat,poor ppl in these areas just vote for whoever the landlord tells them too(which is usually themselves).These are then bought by the main parties,with promises of ministries etc in return.Do u think someone as corrupt as shujat wud be in power if that wasnt the case?And ppl in other provinces shud understand that the middle class punjabis are as helpless in this case as ppl in other provinces,we know what kinda piece of **** these ppl are,but we cant do anything abt it either.the urban population is not strong enuf (in either number or political voice) to do anything abt it.I personally know 2 ppl who have made crores by dealing with shujaat,but hey what can u do right?
its the same case with most if not all the politicians in other provinces,same story different cast.
Zakk, yeah that's what rather unnerves one, they negotiate etc as a regular process, but the negotiations are majorly focused on working around the system and finding some way to reach some sort of a 'deal' best suited to both parties without concern for the third party i.e. the public; Pakistan.