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The former prime minister of Pakistan who was last week talking of boycotting elections could instead be facing renewed criminal charges
Christina Lamb in Islamabad
PAKISTANS former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, could soon be facing the same corruption charges that have forced her into exile for 8½ years.
The countrys attorney-general has told The Sunday Times that a government amnesty lifting the charges which enabled Bhutto to return to the country last month was legally invalid and is likely to be overturned. Five writs have been issued against it in the Supreme Court.
I dont think it will survive the challenge, said Malik Muhammad Qayyum. Whoever drafted it, it was not happily worded. Only the courts can decide to throw charges out, not governments.
The threat, which allies of General Pervez Musharraf are encouraging him to use against Bhutto, comes as Pakistans military ruler faces mounting domestic and international pressure over the state of emergency that he imposed 15 days ago.
Bhutto has convened a meeting of opposition leaders at her Karachi home on Wednesday to discuss boycotting the elections set for January and launching a nationwide street movement for the restoration of democracy.
Im reaching out because we need to put together a coalition of interests, she said yesterday. However, any such strategy is hampered by years of mistrust between the parties, the arrest of leaders such as Imran Khan and the heavy-handed crackdown by police on any attempts at protest.
The international community has also stepped up its pressure with a visit to Islamabad by John Negroponte, US deputy secretary of state, who delivered what US officials described as a strong message, urging Musharraf to lift the state of emergency and take off his military uniform.
He also expressed US concern over the dismissal of the chief justice and other Supreme Court judges and the arrest of more than 3,000 lawyers and activists. Bhutto claims the numbers are higher and that 12,000 members of her Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have been locked up.
Last night Bhutto accused the West of continuing to bail out Musharraf: Even though the people of Pakistan have risen up, our media have been shut down, judges and lawyers are behind bars, yet still the international community is reluctant to let go of General Musharraf. Its time they looked to the wishes of 160m people rather than just one man.
She added that she had told Negroponte in a phone call on Friday night that negotiations with Musharraf were no longer on the table. She added: I said to him that as far as we were concerned we had a road map towards democracy and suddenly found ourselves on a road leading back to dictatorship.
Bhutto had been released from house arrest in Lahore on the eve of Negropontes arrival on Friday. Musharraf also allowed some private TV channels back on air but two of the biggest, Geo and ARY One World, both based in Dubai, were shut down again yesterday.
Musharraf is expected to step out of uniform within the next 10 days once the newly pliant Supreme Court declares his election as president valid. But he is defiant on the issues of the emergency and the judiciary.
I dont take ultimatums from anyone, he declared in a series of interviews he gave to seize back the initiative from Bhutto.
In what is degenerating into a poker game, with Musharraf, Bhutto and the United States all trying to outguess each other, it is not clear who holds the strongest cards.
Pakistan would not like to lose US aid, which has amounted to £4.9 billion over the past five years, much of it going to the army. As a former commando used to war-gaming his adversaries, Musharraf is banking on the belief that the United States needs him more than vice versa.
In a clear reminder to Washington that they are not the only ones able to make threats, Musharraf warned that Pakistans nuclear arsenal was safe only while in the hands of the military.
Those close to Musharraf insist that he truly believes that he is doing his best for the country and cannot understand western criticism. At a ceremony on Thursday to dissolve parliament ready for the elections, he said: I take pride in the fact that, being a man in uniform, I have actually introduced the essence of democracy in Pakistan. He added sourly: Whether anyone believes it or not.
Ironically it was the first time in Pakistans history that a parliament had completed its full five-year term, even if it was under a military ruler. The Pakistan post office issued a commemorative stamp showing the parliament building, although without the barricades now in front of it.
The concertina wire and some bored-looking police blocking off Constitution Avenue are the only real signs of the state of emergency in the capital. Behind the wire lies the Supreme Court, the focus of Musharrafs ire when he suspended the constitution. Although he claimed to be acting to save the country from extremism, his main objective was to preempt a Supreme Court judgment that was expected to invalidate his reelection as president and to attack judicial terrorism.
Inside the courts cool marble walls, Qayyum admits that he is facing one of the most difficult weeks of his life. He will be defending the presidents eligibility for office and giving his opinion on the emergency. He added that political motives would play no part when discussing challenges to the Bhutto amnesty, which will be heard by the Supreme Court once it has ruled on the legality of the emergency.
Before Bhutto came back the president had directed me to defend it to the maximum, but now Im not sure what the stance will be, he said. The thing is, they erred in drawing it up.
Bhutto said last night she was unconcerned. I dont care about the cases, she said. I care about the future of my country. If the court wants to take it up again, all right, let them take it up.
Both Bhutto and Musharraf have ruled out any hope of reviving the deal that led to the amnesty after almost a year of negotiations. That the amnesty was drawn up in a manner that would be hard to defend may have been a deliberate strategy, as evidence emerges that Musharraf was never really serious about the US-backed deal.
Instead, it seems, he saw it asa means to break up an alliance between the leaders of Pakistans two largest parties: Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister who heads the Muslim League.
It was a deliberate strategy to prevent the opposition uniting and she fell for it, said Chau-dhry Shujaat Hussain, leader of the ruling PML(Q), which backs Musharraf. It broke up her alliance with Nawaz Sharif and also stopped Bhuttos MPs boycotting his [Musharrafs] reelection as president, which would otherwise have been invalid.
For all Musharrafs bravado, there is a mounting sense that he is boxed in with nowhere to go. Islamabad over the past week has had the air of the final days of Rome. Official farewell functions for the outgoing government have been followed by private parties late into the night, where ministers and pop stars have mingled. Musharraf himself appeared at wedding parties in Islamabads two best hotels.
At one late night do, Hussain said he was confident that his party would trounce Bhuttos PPP at the polls. The West may be obsessed by Bhutto, but the reality on the ground is very different from the international reality. What matters here is candidates. Bhutto does not have those, he said.
Hussain, whose family controls an important part of the key province of Punjab, hates Bhutto, blaming her late brother Murtaza for assassinating his father. He persuaded Musharraf to announce elections for January 9, arguing that Bhutto would not be ready for them.
Others in the cabinet were less sure. Those from the North West Frontier province wanted the elections delayed, pointing out that it will be impossible to campaign in the current climate. The past few months have seen pro-Taliban militants moving down from tribal areas into settled parts such as the mountain holiday resort of Swat, where hundreds have been killed in fighting that has raged since July.
All agreed that they needed Bhutto to contest the elections, as otherwise they would have no credibility. One of her own former ministers, Faisal Saleh Hayat, who switched support to Musharraf in 2002, recalled: She always said her biggest mistake was to boycott the 1985 elections [under Pakistans last military dictator] as that left the field open for others. She wont make the same mistake again.
Bhutto insists that free elections will be impossible under the state of emergency, particularly after the appointment of a caretaker government on Friday which consists largely of supporters of the ruling party.
So far there has been a surprising lack of public protest although this may be due to the media blackout and a huge clampdown by police.
The great unknown is how the army feels, particularly General Ashfaq Kayani, Musharrafs deputy who will take over when he steps down. The Sunday Times has learnt that Kayani took part in the decision to impose the emergency at a meeting that was called after two Supreme Court judges, Abdul Hameed Dogar and Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi, provided information that the bench would rule Musharrafs election invalid.
Threat to strip Benazir Bhutto of amnesty - Times Online
Christina Lamb in Islamabad
PAKISTANS former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, could soon be facing the same corruption charges that have forced her into exile for 8½ years.
The countrys attorney-general has told The Sunday Times that a government amnesty lifting the charges which enabled Bhutto to return to the country last month was legally invalid and is likely to be overturned. Five writs have been issued against it in the Supreme Court.
I dont think it will survive the challenge, said Malik Muhammad Qayyum. Whoever drafted it, it was not happily worded. Only the courts can decide to throw charges out, not governments.
The threat, which allies of General Pervez Musharraf are encouraging him to use against Bhutto, comes as Pakistans military ruler faces mounting domestic and international pressure over the state of emergency that he imposed 15 days ago.
Bhutto has convened a meeting of opposition leaders at her Karachi home on Wednesday to discuss boycotting the elections set for January and launching a nationwide street movement for the restoration of democracy.
Im reaching out because we need to put together a coalition of interests, she said yesterday. However, any such strategy is hampered by years of mistrust between the parties, the arrest of leaders such as Imran Khan and the heavy-handed crackdown by police on any attempts at protest.
The international community has also stepped up its pressure with a visit to Islamabad by John Negroponte, US deputy secretary of state, who delivered what US officials described as a strong message, urging Musharraf to lift the state of emergency and take off his military uniform.
He also expressed US concern over the dismissal of the chief justice and other Supreme Court judges and the arrest of more than 3,000 lawyers and activists. Bhutto claims the numbers are higher and that 12,000 members of her Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have been locked up.
Last night Bhutto accused the West of continuing to bail out Musharraf: Even though the people of Pakistan have risen up, our media have been shut down, judges and lawyers are behind bars, yet still the international community is reluctant to let go of General Musharraf. Its time they looked to the wishes of 160m people rather than just one man.
She added that she had told Negroponte in a phone call on Friday night that negotiations with Musharraf were no longer on the table. She added: I said to him that as far as we were concerned we had a road map towards democracy and suddenly found ourselves on a road leading back to dictatorship.
Bhutto had been released from house arrest in Lahore on the eve of Negropontes arrival on Friday. Musharraf also allowed some private TV channels back on air but two of the biggest, Geo and ARY One World, both based in Dubai, were shut down again yesterday.
Musharraf is expected to step out of uniform within the next 10 days once the newly pliant Supreme Court declares his election as president valid. But he is defiant on the issues of the emergency and the judiciary.
I dont take ultimatums from anyone, he declared in a series of interviews he gave to seize back the initiative from Bhutto.
In what is degenerating into a poker game, with Musharraf, Bhutto and the United States all trying to outguess each other, it is not clear who holds the strongest cards.
Pakistan would not like to lose US aid, which has amounted to £4.9 billion over the past five years, much of it going to the army. As a former commando used to war-gaming his adversaries, Musharraf is banking on the belief that the United States needs him more than vice versa.
In a clear reminder to Washington that they are not the only ones able to make threats, Musharraf warned that Pakistans nuclear arsenal was safe only while in the hands of the military.
Those close to Musharraf insist that he truly believes that he is doing his best for the country and cannot understand western criticism. At a ceremony on Thursday to dissolve parliament ready for the elections, he said: I take pride in the fact that, being a man in uniform, I have actually introduced the essence of democracy in Pakistan. He added sourly: Whether anyone believes it or not.
Ironically it was the first time in Pakistans history that a parliament had completed its full five-year term, even if it was under a military ruler. The Pakistan post office issued a commemorative stamp showing the parliament building, although without the barricades now in front of it.
The concertina wire and some bored-looking police blocking off Constitution Avenue are the only real signs of the state of emergency in the capital. Behind the wire lies the Supreme Court, the focus of Musharrafs ire when he suspended the constitution. Although he claimed to be acting to save the country from extremism, his main objective was to preempt a Supreme Court judgment that was expected to invalidate his reelection as president and to attack judicial terrorism.
Inside the courts cool marble walls, Qayyum admits that he is facing one of the most difficult weeks of his life. He will be defending the presidents eligibility for office and giving his opinion on the emergency. He added that political motives would play no part when discussing challenges to the Bhutto amnesty, which will be heard by the Supreme Court once it has ruled on the legality of the emergency.
Before Bhutto came back the president had directed me to defend it to the maximum, but now Im not sure what the stance will be, he said. The thing is, they erred in drawing it up.
Bhutto said last night she was unconcerned. I dont care about the cases, she said. I care about the future of my country. If the court wants to take it up again, all right, let them take it up.
Both Bhutto and Musharraf have ruled out any hope of reviving the deal that led to the amnesty after almost a year of negotiations. That the amnesty was drawn up in a manner that would be hard to defend may have been a deliberate strategy, as evidence emerges that Musharraf was never really serious about the US-backed deal.
Instead, it seems, he saw it asa means to break up an alliance between the leaders of Pakistans two largest parties: Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister who heads the Muslim League.
It was a deliberate strategy to prevent the opposition uniting and she fell for it, said Chau-dhry Shujaat Hussain, leader of the ruling PML(Q), which backs Musharraf. It broke up her alliance with Nawaz Sharif and also stopped Bhuttos MPs boycotting his [Musharrafs] reelection as president, which would otherwise have been invalid.
For all Musharrafs bravado, there is a mounting sense that he is boxed in with nowhere to go. Islamabad over the past week has had the air of the final days of Rome. Official farewell functions for the outgoing government have been followed by private parties late into the night, where ministers and pop stars have mingled. Musharraf himself appeared at wedding parties in Islamabads two best hotels.
At one late night do, Hussain said he was confident that his party would trounce Bhuttos PPP at the polls. The West may be obsessed by Bhutto, but the reality on the ground is very different from the international reality. What matters here is candidates. Bhutto does not have those, he said.
Hussain, whose family controls an important part of the key province of Punjab, hates Bhutto, blaming her late brother Murtaza for assassinating his father. He persuaded Musharraf to announce elections for January 9, arguing that Bhutto would not be ready for them.
Others in the cabinet were less sure. Those from the North West Frontier province wanted the elections delayed, pointing out that it will be impossible to campaign in the current climate. The past few months have seen pro-Taliban militants moving down from tribal areas into settled parts such as the mountain holiday resort of Swat, where hundreds have been killed in fighting that has raged since July.
All agreed that they needed Bhutto to contest the elections, as otherwise they would have no credibility. One of her own former ministers, Faisal Saleh Hayat, who switched support to Musharraf in 2002, recalled: She always said her biggest mistake was to boycott the 1985 elections [under Pakistans last military dictator] as that left the field open for others. She wont make the same mistake again.
Bhutto insists that free elections will be impossible under the state of emergency, particularly after the appointment of a caretaker government on Friday which consists largely of supporters of the ruling party.
So far there has been a surprising lack of public protest although this may be due to the media blackout and a huge clampdown by police.
The great unknown is how the army feels, particularly General Ashfaq Kayani, Musharrafs deputy who will take over when he steps down. The Sunday Times has learnt that Kayani took part in the decision to impose the emergency at a meeting that was called after two Supreme Court judges, Abdul Hameed Dogar and Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi, provided information that the bench would rule Musharrafs election invalid.
Threat to strip Benazir Bhutto of amnesty - Times Online
