Don’t go with Sharif: Musharraf aides carry message to Zardari

Musharraf’s aides met Zardari yesterday for discussions on the formation of the next government, their first contact since Monday’s general election, Dawn News channel reported today.

Zardari, who has staked his party’s claim to form a government after it won the highest number of seats in the National Assembly, kept his party’s options close to his chest but virtually ruled out any truck with Musharraf who he said “will not last long”.

At a press conference after a party meeting today, Zardari said it should be left to Parliament to decide on the President’s continuance in office — the PML-N has called for Musharraf’s impeachment.

Declaring that he is not the prime ministerial candidate, Zardari said that the PPP would choose a nominee from its senior leadership for heading a coalition. But he told a TV channel that his party could support someone from another party for the prime ministership, triggering speculation that Sharif could be the beneficiary.

Musharraf’s close aides, including National Security Council Secretary Tariq Aziz, met Zardari yesterday and urged him not to holds talks with the PML-N on forming a government, official sources told Dawn News. Zardari was non-committal in this regard and sources close to him told Dawn News that he did not want to forge an alliance with the PML-Q, the party which backs Musharraf and was routed in the polls.

Musharraf’s aides and Zardari also discussed the names of the PPP’s prime ministerial candidates. The government team favoured PPP vice-chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, the president of the Punjab unit of the PPP, and senior party leader Yusuf Raza Gilani, the sources said.

Musharraf today said the general elections have strengthened moderate forces and Pakistan now needs a “harmonious coalition” for governance. “The elections have strengthened moderate forces in the country,” he told US Congressman Elton Gallegly who met him in Rawalpindi.

And in an interview to the Wall Street Journal, Musharraf said he had no plans to resign. Asked whether he would resign or retire, Musharraf said: “No, not yet. We have to move forward in a way that we bring about a stable democratic government to Pakistan.”

“I would like to function with any party and any coalition because that is in the interest of Pakistan… I will strive towards that end. On the other side, I can’t say,” he said. “The President has no mandate to share governing power with the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister runs the government,” he said, adding,”The clash would be if the Prime Minister and President would be trying to get rid of each other. I only hope we would avoid these clashes.”

With Zardari slated to meet Sharif tomorrow, expectations of a coalition have risen but the two leaders have to iron out certain sticky issues, including the fate of the supreme judiciary in Pakistan.

Sharif has already raised the stakes by announcing “reinstatement” of former Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary and other judges, and has found a backer in detained PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan who was one of Chaudhary’s main attorneys.

But Zardari is not too keen on reinstatement. He prefers “release” of these judges from house arrest. “We have seen reinstatements in the past… but we want to address the larger issue of judiciary’s independence and not give headline-grabbing statements on reinstatement of judges,” he said, in an apparent reference to Sharif’s demand.

Besides the judiciary, the President’s removal is also a tricky issue. The two major parties lack the numbers to impeach the President. Zardari, on his part, said: “We would like to strengthen the Parliament, and not any individual… and the Parliament will decide whether the President stays or not.”

Both Zardari and Sharif said they will get the smaller players on board. And the first one to get a call from both was the Awami National Party Afsandyar Wali Khan, a Pashtun moderate party, which has wiped out the hardliners in the NWFP.

Zardari said he has spoken to Tehreek-e-Insaaf leader Imran Khan and others who boycotted the elections and wants to take “all political forces, both inside and outside Parliament.” Altaf Hussain’s MQM is also open to joining the parties in power after having secured its seats in traditional strongholds of Karachi and Hyderabad.

Meanwhile, New Delhi, describing the elections as Pakistan’s “internal affair”, today welcomed that “people of Pakistan have been able to express themselves clearly and in a democratic manner on their own future.”

“As ever, the Government of India stands ready to resume the composite dialogue process as soon as a duly constituted government is in place in Pakistan. It remains our hope that we will be able to resolve outstanding issues and build a mutually beneficial relationship with Pakistan in an atmosphere free of violence and terrorism. India wishes to see Pakistan develop and prosper within a stable democratic order,” said the spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs.