Pakistan - Musharraf met Bhutto to negotiate a safe exit: Report

Press Trust of India ^

[HAL9000]

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf met former Prime Minister in exile Benazir Bhutto at Abu Dhabi recently to negotiate a deal for a safe exit, a senior opposition leader has said.

"The Abu Dhabi meeting was held on Musharraf's asking. The President wants a safe exit and that is why he had sought mediation of various people to negotiate the same with Bhutto," the Dawn reported on Sunday, quoting Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader Abida Hussain as saying.

According to her, Musharraf's graph had nose-dived within no time. "A few months ago no one believed that the President would get weaker so soon."

Stating that it was for Musharraf to prove in the Supreme Court that he was eligible to contest the presidential election in uniform, Hussain said, "In case, the apex court clears him, still he would become a titular head of state in the days ahead."

The Islamic nation's ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML) also stood no future, she claimed.

Hussain, a former Minister, however, defended her party chief by saying that the PPP Chairperson met Musharraf only for the sake of democracy.

Though many people had reservations about the meeting, she said, the PPP chief took a better decision in the interest of Pakistan. "Everyone has the right to have his own opinion on the issue. But those who want the nation to make a smooth transition to democracy will support Bhutto's move."

Bhutto had also shared all the details of the Abu Dhabi meeting with the media in presence of a large number of party leaders who were in London recently to seek party tickets for the general elections slated for later this year, she said.

[Jabba the Nutt]

Is this article comprehensible to anyone? I can’t figure out what’s what. Who needs a ‘safe exit’, Bhutto or Musharaf? What are the various parties mean? PPP? PML? Who’s associated with whom?

[Tijeras_Slim]

Pakistan People’s Party....

[shalom aleichem]

I agree with you. I was looking forward to learning something but this is all gibberish. Benazir Bhutto previously served as Prime Minister (1988-90 and 1993-96), and is totally western educated (Harvard ‘73 and Oxford graduate studies - her early education was Christian schools in Pakistan). However, I don’t necessarily trust that she is pro-American. She may be in the sense she and Hillary are on the same page but we see how the Dems have fallen in behind AlQ and many around the globe who want to diminish USA influence if not destroy our way of life (decadent, over consumption, large carbon footprint, etc.)

I am more comfortable with Musariff but the recent jab by Obama totally destabilized a tense situation there with the fundamentalists always ready erupt, and they already think Mushariff is a Bush toady. He has to walk a fine line. Bhutto can exploit that for her own ends. She has proven to be corrupt, as has her husband and her late father Ali Bhutto was a total dork.