NEW JERSEY, AUG 27 - According to a reliable source, President Gen Musharraf may hang his uniform
even before his re-election as President, come September.
His main political opponents, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto,
and opposition
leader Maulana Fazlur Rahman are both willing to go along with
his re-election for another five years, said the source who
chose to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the
matter,
adding that it was only the deposed PM Nawaz Sharif who remained opposed
to the General's re-election.
An op-ed in The Toronto Star said today,
"Gen. Pervez Musharraf, is on the ropes,
abandoned by both the right and the left".
But
some Pakistan
observers
say, that may not be the
case. "There are so many sips between the cup and the lips",
commented Jalal Ahmed, a Pakistani-Canadian who is an ardent
supporter of the General.
It is an open secret that high level officials from Gen Musharraf's camps are in
London to negotiate a deal with the Sharifs. It is highly
probable that the brothers may agree to some kind of
compromise with the General, said a source in Islamabad.
The Washington source said that the embattled General is even
ready to move to Turkey, if "all
else fails".
"I am told his close family and relatives including his
mother have told him to hang it up", the source said.
The recent Supreme Court verdict allowing Sharifs to return
unhindered reportedly threw spanner in the
works, though news reports said Islamabad was expecting it.
That is why, according to reports, Saad Hariri, the
son of the late Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, met
Nawaz Sharif in Scotland in the second week of August before
the announcement of the verdict.
The Hariri-Nawaz secret meeting took place at a very short notice on the
request of Hariri himself, who was urged by General Musharraf to
intervene in the matter of Sharif brother's proposed return,
The News reported today.
Saad was reminded by the Musharraf administration of his
role as a guarantor in the deal and asked to stop the former
prime minister from breaching the undertaking.
Nawaz did not give any definite reply to Hariri’s son as he
was simply waiting for the Supreme Court verdict, the report
said.
It is said that General Musharraf, after meeting former
prime minister and PPP chairwoman Benazir Bhutto in Abu
Dhabi on July 26, after the restoration of the chief justice
on July 20, went to meet King Abdullah in Jeddah to ask him
to stop Nawaz from flying to Pakistan. It is reported
that the Saudis told Musharraf they could not stop a
Pakistani citizen from flying to his own country.
Rafiq Hariri is believed to be the person referred to as the
gentleman albeit "guarantor" in the undertaking signed by
Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif.
The Sharif brothers are said to be planning to return to
Pakistan before the holy month of Ramazan.
They reportedly told Hariri that Pakistan was passing
through a very difficult phase and their return to the
country was not their personal matter. Nawaz, according to
Shahbaz, told Hariri that after the decision of the Supreme
Court, the people of Pakistan wanted him to return.
“If we compromise, we will face a situation similar to that
of 1971 when Pakistan lost a major portion of itself for not
respecting the mandate,” said Nawaz Sharif according to
Online.
Some political pundits say the arrival of the Sharif
brothers will create chaos and instability - an observation
made by General Musharraf himself, several times during
the last couple of weeks.
But the General may make history by insuring the Parliament
completes its five-years tenure, something the nation has
not witnessed since 1977.
He has promised free and fair election. His Western allies,
particularly USA want semblance of democracy in Pakistan as
icing on its "War on Terror" cake.
The two exiled
leaders, Benazir and Sharif, say only their return and participation in the
elections would mean it was "fair".
Both PPP and MMA are said to be secretly negotiating "a
level-playing field" - with the Sharifs being left out
of the field though.
PML(N) and the Sharifs will draw crowd no matter what,
predict some. "If the General
doffs his uniform, the lotas will beeline the PML (N)
office, said one analyst.
"Sharif could conceivably win. (But) that might
prompt the general to declare martial law. Or, his deal with
Bhutto might demoralize pro-democracy forces, making the
Islamists even stronger. Rather than the dawn of democracy,
we are witnessing cynical ploys by several self-serving
parties, with Washington right in the thick of it",
commented Haroon Siddiqui in his most recent column in the influential
Canadian newspaper The Toronto Star.
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