Benazir
Punctures the Reconciliation Bubble With Straight Talk
Special
SAT Report
WASHINGTON,
March 7: Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto took the wind out
of the over-blown mantra of national reconciliation by the Musharraf
regime when on Saturday she told a crowded news conference there
was just sporadic “limited engagement” between the
two sides and not even the basic positions were known yet.
Winding
up her five-day trip to the US capital, Benazir also laid down
all her cards about proceeding with this limited engagement saying
Government will have to come up with proposals about free and
fair elections, return of all the exiles, withdrawal of politically
motivated cases and most importantly, display a conduct which
could create trust and confidence.
Bhutto
left the door of talks open with the Musharraf regime, saying
she always wanted a dialogue, but she emphasized that reconciliation
and victimization could not go together.
Explaining
the demands at several meetings with think tank leaders and party
workers, Bhutto said free and fair elections meant that no pre-engineering
would be resorted to, no pre-screening of candidates would be
done, no-pre poll rigging would be allowed, no tempering with
vote count will be permitted and a level playing field would be
given to all the parties.
She
also clearly stated that the continuation of the dialogue will
depend on what kind of space was provided to her party and husband
Asif Ali Zardari, who is scheduled to return to Pakistan next
month.
In
this context she was very clear that the upcoming local bodies
elections would provide the “Litmus Test” to establish
whether the Musharraf regime was sincere in what the sporadic
messages to her have assured in general terms. If
the Local Bodies elections are rigged, as they were last time,
when ISI picked up all the Nazims and Mayors, there would be no
point in believing that Musharraf was sincere in reconciliation
or wanted the mainstream liberal political parties to play their
due role.
South
Asia Tribune has learnt that Asif Zardari, despite his health
problems, was very keen on going back although Benazir Bhutto
and even Nawaz Sharif had advised him to get proper medical care
before proceeding back home, even if it took a few more months.
It
was also learnt that there has been no contact between Benazir
or Asif Zardari with any government messenger for many months
now, specially after release of Mr Zardari.
All
the statements and claims of Government spokesmen and leaders
about reconciliation and deals or agreements with PPP were disinformation
and deception plans, Benazir clarified to her party cadres.
At her news conference she said democracy must be restored, human
rights must be respected, political prisoners must be released,
exiles must be allowed to return home and cases filed against
them must be withdrawn. She said she had been fighting the cases
lodged against her, as had her husband, for the last eight years.
Nothing had been proved.
Asked
about the cases against her husband and her in Switzerland, she
said it was an investigation, nor a trial. Once the investigation
was over, it would go to one court, then another and then another,
right up to the European Court. Either of the two parties could
take the case to the highest level.
When
asked what was the "level" of the "engagement"
between her and the government, she did not go into details but
stressed that the government has to come back. “We have
said what we had to say." When pressed, she declared, "I
am not going to negotiate through a press conference till something
positive happens on the ground."
Asked
if she would accept a President in uniform, she answered, "As
of now, our stand is no President in uniform." This
comment left the window open for some understanding at any advanced
stage of negotiations but according to her at the moment there
was not even an agenda or basic positions known to PPP while she
had publicly and privately conveyed all her positions.
Answering
a question about Dr AQ Khan, Bhutto said it was her father who
had brought him to Pakistan and Dr Khan had played an important
role in making Pakistan a nuclear country. The entire nation has
showered him with respect but it was regrettable that Dr Khan
had confessed on television that he had made undue use of his
position. There were those who believed that Dr Khan had been
made a scapegoat and that he was ordered to say on television
what he said.
“There
were two opinions as to this being an individual act or an act
undertaken on behalf of others. It was, therefore, essential that
there should be a transparent investigation so that the truth
could be established. It was a national issue and the people of
Pakistan were not sure of the fact. They felt confused and it
was their right to have that confusion removed.”
Asked
about her interview to Voice of America in which she said that
when she became prime minister in 1988, Pakistan already had the
capability of making a bomb, she replied that it was true. In
answer to a follow-up question, she said the ISI had nothing to
do with the nuclear program during her time, nor had she received
a briefing from the agency.
She
had summoned a meeting of nuclear scientists who had informed
her of the true state of the program. She was also asked about
the North Korean missile deal to which she replied that she had
negotiated it "one-to-one" with Kim Il-Sung and paid
for what Pakistan received in cash. She said there had been no
"swap". There had been no transfer of nuclear technology
or equipment during her tenure as prime minister. She did not
rule out the theory that because the program ran out of money
after the 1998 nuclear test, there might have been a swap.
On
Balochistan she said when people felt powerless and unrepresented
insurgencies erupted, citing the example of East Pakistan in 1971.
She said when people were disempowered and made helpless, they
no longer felt that they had a stake in the system. The people
in Balochistan were in a state of "despair," In such
situations, militancy was just a step away.
The
working classes in Pakistan today, she asserted, have no faith
in the system. The writ of the state has collapsed. She said a
wave of freedom was sweeping the world. There had been elections
in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, and local elections in Saudi
Arabia. Hosni Mubarak had said that the next election in Egypt
for the presidency will be multiparty. But in Pakistan there was
dictatorial rule. She said it was her hope and dream that the
people of Pakistan will see the dawn of true democracy soon.
Bhutto
was asked whether she would invoke Article 6 of the Constitution
to try the man who overthrew the constitutional government, to
which her reply was that it would be for the parliament of the
day to take a decision.
Answering
a question about the disregard by the Musharraf government of
UN Security Council's Kashmir resolutions, she stressed that those
resolutions must not be abandoned, while declaring that it was
the people of Kashmir who must decided their future themselves.
She
said she favored the present peace process between India and Pakistan
and was happy that she had been vindicated. However, when she
had tried to do that, she had been called a "security risk."
In
answer to a question about US-Pakistan relations, she said US
assistance must be linked to the restoration of democracy. He
cautioned Washington not to "place all its eggs in one basket."
She said there had been two attacks on Gen. Musharraf and though
one hoped not, there could be another. The US should not put its
trust in a single individual but a system.
