Where is Pakistan’s political mayhem heading for? President Musharraf seems adamant to continue with the emergency to get a stronghold of the Pakistani political powerbase. This ambition of the country’s military strongman pits himself directly against the mass opposition protests and pressures led by former Prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Herein lies the irony and unpredictability of Pakistani politics. Benazir Bhutto arrived in Pakistan last month after a long self-imposed exile hoping to pull off a power-sharing deal with Parvez Musharraf which would have seen the Pakistani strongwoman enter mainstream politics once again. But now with the onset of emergency Ms.Bhutto is ruling out any deal with the president. Another question arises. Why would Benazir Bhutto take such a surprise decision in stooping all kinds of prospective negotiations with President Musharraf? Let us discuss the possible theories.
According to many analysts, Ms.Bhutto’s intention to enter into a negotiation with the President before coming to Pakistan was infact a way of entering Pakistan without being confronted by the law which she did. But to many this was a clever way to assert herself in Pakistani politics. This theory has a lot of validity given the fact that the decision to rule out any deal between the two foes has come from Benazir and that also within such a short span of time. But is this the only possible reason? The answer is no.
Benazir Bhutto is a shrude politician. At a time when President Musharraf is facing intense domestic and international pressures, this particular decision from the Pakistan People’s Party(PPP) leader is a way of garnering support among all the fragmented political parties and placing herself as the sole opposition leader. Ms.Bhutto, it seems, has played her cards well. With the absence of old political rival Nawaz Sharif, Benazir Bhutto knows this is her best chance to dictate Pakistan’s political scenario against president Musharraf and if or when the emergency is lifted, the former Prime minister can take all the credits for it further asserting herself among the hearts of the democratic citizens.
Well, then what about the Americans? It is in Washington’s great interests to see both President Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto share the leadership in Islamabad given their pro-western attitudes. The US would definitely not like this decision of Ms.Bhutto to rule out any deal with the President. Maybe, herein also lies Benazir’s political vision. This U-turn by the former Prime minister might make the Bush regime in adopting more constructive and pro-active measures in pressurising Musharraf to lift the emergency.
Moreover, the emergency has not gone down well with many of the army’s leading officers and many political experts feel that President Musharraf might be overthrown by his own military which in turn would hand over the power to a civilian government to end the growing political chaos and guess what, the biggest winner in such a case would be the controversial Benazir Bhutto.
Image and Source Link: Latimes
