Benazir ghost haunts Zardari

Islamabad: A pre-election deal brokered between Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto continues to haunt her widower Asif Ali Zardari, co-chair of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) that heads the ruling coalition, who finds his hands tied because of the pact. Zardari is “bound” by the deal to develop a “working relationship” with the president, The News reported on Tuesday. Quoting a key PPP source who was among those who played a role in bringing the two sides together for the deal, the newspaper said “important people” in Washington and Dubai had acted as guarantors to the agreement between the two sides. At the same time, PPP spokesperson Farhatullah Babar admitted that the “present situation” was creating doubts in the minds of the people “but assured that Musharraf is not going to have the last laugh”, the newspaper added. “He hinted that the next few days are really important. He said foreign capitals also change their minds when they see the ground realities changing in the country,” The News said. At the root of the matter is the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) that paved the way for the return from exile of Bhutto and Zardari by waving the corruption charges that stood against them in Pakistan. Musharraf promulgated the ordinance on Oct 5, 2007, a day before the presidential election that saw him winning a second term in office. According to Babar, Musharraf issued the NRO “to get some concessions from the PPP” and when he expressed his apprehensions on this score to Bhutto, she ticked him off. A PPP source said that the party’s reservation was only against the president in uniform and not in civvies. “He said with the blessing of the foreign guarantors, the PPP had agreed to develop a working relationship with Musharraf. He said present day politics of PPP has strong connections with the NRO and conditions agreed at that time,” The News said.