Gen-Bhutto deal collapses, says Minister

The much-touted power-sharing deal between Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and former premier Benazir Bhutto has collapsed over her demand that Prime Ministers must be allowed a third term, a minister considered close to the General has said.

“It is finished. The President said ‘no’. If you insist, there are very thin chances of salvaging it — just 1 or 2 per cent,” Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad was quoted by Dawn on Saturday as saying. “May be some last-minute attempt is made … to salvage the deal. But personally I am not at all hopeful, the reason being Bhutto’s insistence that Prime Ministers must be allowed a third term,” he said.

The crucial component of the deal being negotiated between Musharraf and Bhutto was the removal of bar on elected leaders holding the post of Prime Minister for a third term. The rule was brought in by Musharraf during the 2002 polls.