NYT : West would back deal between Bhutto and Musharraf

West would back deal between Bhutto and Musharraf

ISLAMABAD: Sharif viewed by U.S. as worst of 3 figures

By Carlotta Gall and Salman Masood | Published: August 30, 2007

A reported power-sharing deal between Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf, and the exiled former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, would have the support of the U.S. and European governments, who see Musharraf as an important ally in fighting terrorism but also want to encourage moderate political forces in Pakistan to counter religious extremists.

Bhutto said Wednesday that Musharraf had agreed to resign as army chief as part of a nearly completed deal that would allow him to serve another term as president if he is re-elected and allow her to return to Pakistan to run for prime minister.

"Our understanding is that he will contest elections as a civilian," Bhutto said in a telephone interview from London, where she has been in negotiations with the general's emissaries.

Talks between Bhutto and Musharraf gained urgency last week after Pakistan's Supreme Court ruled that Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf ousted in a 1999 coup, could return to Pakistan. Like Bhutto, Sharif wields significant power within the country, but he is seen by the Bush administration as less friendly to its interests. He is opposed to the general continuing in power in any capacity and has vowed to oppose his re-election. Sharif could well run for prime minister, and such a rivalry could further roil Pakistani politics.
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West would back deal between Bhutto and Musharraf

For the United States, a power-sharing deal between Musharraf and Bhutto would be the best outcome among several bad options. Bush officials want to keep Musharraf in the presidency, because he is viewed as a crucial ally in the fight against terrorism, a U.S. official said. But Musharraf's plummeting popularity in Pakistan has left American officials worried that he could lose the election if he refuses to share power with Bhutto, or, worse, find himself overthrown in the same kind of army coup that brought him to power.

U.S. officials also worry that Sharif is more critical of the United States than either Bhutto or Musharraf.

Although Bhutto's comments suggested a deal was imminent, she added that a second central question - whether Musharraf would run for election with the sitting Parliament voting this fall, or wait until a new and more independent one is formed after elections in January - was "still under discussion."

The agreement remained a "cliffhanger," she said. "A lot has gone right, but still there are a couple of issues to be hashed out."

There was no immediate confirmation from Musharraf, who has suffered a series of blows in recent weeks to his six-month struggle to retain both his military and political leadership posts. But his minister of railways, Sheik Rashid Ahmed, said at a news conference covered by Reuters: "There is no more uniform issue. It has been settled and the president will make an announcement." Asked later if Musharraf would take off his uniform before standing for re-election, he said, "Maybe."

On Thursday, Musharraf's spokesman said the president rejected "any pressure or ultimatum" to decide whether to quit as army chief, The Associated Press reported. But the spokesman, Rashid Qureshi, in a faxed statement, did not either deny or confirm Bhutto's account.

Foreign policy experts in the United States and administration officials cautioned that it remained unclear whether the power-sharing deal would be enough to stave off further political crises in Pakistan and an eventual ouster of Musharraf.

On Wednesday, in an interview published by The Financial Times, Sharif said he would return within two weeks. A spokesman for Sharif, Nadir Chaudhri, reached by telephone, said Sharif would announce details of his plans at a news conference on Thursday.

Bhutto laid out the parameters of the discussions on a deal in an interview late Wednesday. She said her Pakistan People's Party had offered the general different options, involving passing a constitutional amendment, either by the current Parliament or the next one, to resolve his ineligibility for re-election. (According to some interpretations, he has already served the maximum two consecutive terms in office, because he seized power in 1999 and won a referendum in 2002.) She said the party position was that he should stand for re-election after the next Parliament was seated.

Another issue still under discussion was the balance of power between the president and the Parliament, and in particular the presidential powers to dissolve Parliament. "Parliament needs to be independent, not subservient to a privy council or handmaiden of the presidency," she said.

Musharraf began his re-election campaign in August with an eye to a vote of national and provincial assemblies between Sept. 15 and Oct. 15. But growing opposition to the breadth of his rule - which gained momentum after he suspended the Supreme Court's chief justice in March - has presented him with mounting difficulties. The possibility that the chief justice, reinstated in July, might rule his re-election unconstitutional, helped drive him into the talks with Bhutto.