A nominee of exiled former prime minister Benazir Bhutto may become Pakistan’s deputy prime minister under a political deal being worked out with President Pervez Musharraf.
The Nation newspaper said on Tuesday that Makhdoom Amin Fahim, a leading light of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) of Ms Bhutto, had been offered the deputy prime ministership in 2002 and might get the offer again.
This post may pave the way for a post-poll power-sharing formula that would take in parties and individuals being dubbed “liberals” by the media, which is speculating that this would keep the “nationalists” of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) of another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, in the opposition.
Commentators have said this is meant to keep religion-based parties and rightwing groups out of power. The ‘deal’ worked out last week when Mr Musharraf and Ms Bhutto met in Abu Dhabi envisages the latter facilitating the former’s re-election to the presidency. However, the tussle over whether Mr Musharraf will doff his military uniform prior to that persists.
Ms Bhutto’s statement of not accepting “the president in uniform,” said the official, was part of a verbal understanding between the two so that her vote bank might not get hurt because of the scathing response in the country, especially from her party leaders over the deal, The News said on Tuesday. Quoting political sources, the Nation said the power-sharing arrangement would include the Pakistan Muslim League-Qaid or PML-Q and others in the present ruling coalition, with PPP playing the leading role.
Shh, says Musharraf
Contrary to reports, Mr Musharraf did not make any announcement of the deal and in fact, asked PML-Qaid members “not to talk” till the arrangement was fully worked out.
Musharraf is sunk: Imran
London, pti: Imran Khan, Pakistan’s cricketer-turned-politician, has said that President Pervez Musharraf is “sunk” as he has “lost touch” with the people and must resign.
“It is all over for him. He is sunk,” Khan said, adding “he has lost touch with Pakistan. It is a crisis of his own making and the accumulative effect of his miscalculations.”
“The longer Musharraf stays, the longer the backlash of extremism will last. The majority of Pakistanis, secular-minded or not, view Musharraf as an American puppet,” Khan told The Daily Telegraph.