All eyes on Bhutto ahead of key Pakistan poll date

She isn't likely to get the reception she got in 1986 if she does return, but I wonder what her next move will be?


http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor.../asia_118732_1


All eyes on Bhutto ahead of key Pakistan poll date


All eyes are on Pakistan's exiled former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Sunday ahead of a key deadline in a parliamentary election that military leader Pervez Musharraf has been accused of manipulating.


The charismatic daughter of Pakistan's first elected premier has vowed to return home from self-imposed exile in Britain to contest the poll, setting the scene for a showdown with arch-rival Musharraf who has moved to ban her. But she faces arrest if she does, and the participation of her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) in the October 10 election is in doubt as long as she is at the helm, political analysts say.

All parties wanting to run for seats in parliament must complete their own internal elections and submit a list of candidates to the election commission by Monday. Musharraf has sought to remove both Bhutto and fellow former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from the election by barring ex-prime ministers who have served twice. Bhutto and Sharif both face corruption charges, which would also disqualify them under rules proposed by the president. Sharif, in exile in Saudi Arabia, bowed out of the contest on Saturday by handing over the leadership of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) to his younger brother.

But Bhutto has yet to budge just one day before the August 5 deadline.

"We have selected her (Bhutto) as chairperson," a senior PPP official told Reuters.

"The party will go to the election commission tomorrow and submit the forms. The government is very clear from its side and we are from ours. We will see what happens."

BHUTTO MAY BE WEAKENED

While enjoying considerable support at home, Bhutto's position may have been weakened by the change of PML leader.

Newspapers on Sunday said the appointment of Shahbaz Sharif as PML president meant Musharraf would find it easier to stick to his guns on barring Bhutto.

There was also speculation that the PML reshuffle was the result of a behind-the-scenes deal with Musharraf.

"For Shabhaz to return and stake a claim to political power would require him to strike a deal with the regime," wrote the Daily Times in an editorial.

"One of the salient points of any such deal would be to move the PML away from the PPP."

Both are part of the main opposition movement, the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy, that has been demanding that Musharraf step down and let a neutral caretaker government oversee the October polls. If she does come back to Pakistan, Bhutto is unlikely to get the same tumultuous reception she had in 1986 when she returned from exile to challenge another military ruler, Zia-ul-Haq.

But a strong show of support could expose Musharraf, whose democratic credentials are under international scrutiny after he forged closer ties in the west by backing the campaign against al Qaeda and the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan .

The Nation newspaper urged Musharraf to allow Bhutto to contest the election. "The government is now in a position where it must either accept the claim of these families to participate in politics, or hold an election only marginally less dubious than the 1985 partyless polls," it wrote.

Assalamu aleikum,

Hmm .. does someone by chance have the e-mail adress to to By Mike Collett-White? Would be nice if he got some facts straight into his writing ... bhutto the first elected premier in the history of Pakistan? How did he get to that? :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

BB is disqualified on several accounts ... 1. she has been elected twice as a PM, and as such under the present rules she cannot run for elections, 2. Its the whole bachelour degree thing ... she probably would have to go back again to school and do some actual studying before she could participate ... and 3. and last ... its the whole corruption charge thing, which she have 'bravely' fought from outside Pakistan ...

W'salam

Personally I don't think she should be arrested straight away on arrival in Pakistan cause that might give her to much much needed publicity and sympathy, which she is wanting. Its clear she is not going to get a 1986-style reception as she may be deluding herself about, but will get more like a damn squib of a reception. She will have to follow the new election laws and stand aside like Nawaz, if not then her party should be banned from standing. Lets she if she wants to go that far?

I agree with Daniyal, in fact I will go as far as saying/predicting that PPP will win the general election in october and since PPP has elected BB unopposed and unannimously (talk about PPP's anti-Pakistan credentials and history), it would not be far fetch to assume that she will be the next PM. Eventhough PM will do everything to block her election, but it remains to be seen whether the courts will agree with him.

If anything, what is pretty much a foregone conclusion is that PPP will definitely win the upcoming election because there won't be any opposition, PML is in a total disarray and no other party will be able to match and challenge PPPs influence in Sindh and Punjab (the only provinces that matter) and also MQM will win a sizeable number of NA seats from Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukhur. Hence, both these parties will probably combine and form some sort of a coalition gov't, though this notion is a most likely not to take place.

Whatever the reception might be for BB. One thing that I know is that she has not been convicted of any corruption. The only sentence she recieved was for contempt of court for not appearing during the hearings. The other two things a) the degree and twice being the PM are not a law yet. They are still being debated. So BB still could become a PM. And thus far she has a very good chance.
And somebody mentioned that PPP is anti Pakistan. How'd you say that. When the leader of PPP initiated the current nuclear program that we are so proud of. And as far as corruption is concerned we have as many corrupt folks in the Khakis as there are in the red,black and green.

The PPP has never won a stright majority in any election and is unlikely to this time round. Having looked at the wide array of parties, factions and splinter groups I predict the PPP (BB) will get around 80 to 90 of the overall 342 seats. In fact I think the JI, MQM, ANP and other such smaller regional/religious parties will do quite well for a number of factors.

I dont think any religious party will win a significant number of seats. As far as straight majority goes, in the history of Pakistan only NS' last gov't came through a straight majority. Therefore, PPP winning a straight is rather irrelevant because PPP will win the most number of seat, hence through partnering up regional parties it will get to chose who the next PM will be, and judging by their intra partry election, it can be no one other then BB.

Saad, it has been little reported but the impact of some 10 million additional voters to the electotal list will greatly enhance the support of religious parties like the JI, and even smaller parties like the JI. Those 10 million voters are in the 18 to 21 age group, and anyone who knows about the membership of JI knows the bulk of its membership comes from this age group. It is very likely that Imran Khan will greatly benefit from this factor as well. As for regional parties joining up with the PPP to form a coalition government - please tell us when was the last time the major regional parties (MQM, ANP etc) allied with the PPP, and how long that lasted?

On my assessment the religious parties, new parties, indpendents etc will probably get 40% of the seats. The PML, PPP and ALL their splinters and factions will get the remaining 60% of seats. It will be what we call a hung parliament in all senses, and probably take weeks if not months for a national government to be formed. This would make President Musharraf a crucial king maker with the major parties beckononing on winning favours form him to form a government.

Pretty much as I predicted in another thread on the PML. :)


PPP adopts contingency to contest elections

By Ilyaz Choudhry

(Updated at 1600 PST)

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan People Party (PPP) Monday formed a separate wing, to be called Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Parliamentarians, to contest October elections without party leader Benazir Bhutto.

Makhdoom Amin Fahim was selected president and Raja Pervez Asharaf secretary general of the separate entity.

The issue is not the number of voters or addition of voters. The problem is will they vote? And judging by past participaton of the voters, where only 12 or at most 20 percent of eligible vote, then I am afraid any additional voters would not make a difference. My bet is still on BB, and as far as PPP's anti Pakistan stance goes, just ZAB's totalitarian/despotic regime was the worst thing that happened to Pakistan and its economy and secondly with all that BB has done to Pakistan in emulating her father, PPP still goes on to elect her as the party head, I am baffled.....

Quote:

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Originally posted by Saad Hasan
The issue is not the number of voters or addition of voters. The problem is will they vote? And judging by past participaton of the voters, where only 12 or at most 20 percent of eligible vote, then I am afraid any additional voters would not make a difference.

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Whether low turnout or not will not change the fact that there will be millions more young voters in the 18 to 21 age group, who form the majority of the JI's membership. Add on the post 9/11 situation I predict the religious parties as a whole taking around 10% of the votes - much more than they ever have in the previous elections. Some say the PPP will be able to take advantage of the splits in the PML, but I feel the religious parties, and even Imran's PTI may take advantage of this situation as well.

AoA,

Personally I dont think BB will be returning to Pakistan, as mentioned she knows that she cannot take part in elections given she has been disqualified on many accounts. Similarly she has been convicted and senteced to 5 years in jail in at least one case, meaning she will indeed be going to jail. Alot of PPP supporters in the press are misguided in thinking they can get bail or a stay order from court for BB, they may be able to do that for a number of pending cases but she will be arrested for those she has been convicted for by court.

Secondly about PPP taking part in the elections, we all know that the party elections held by the PPP are a sham. BB has been elected chairperson for life, and any further election to endorse that is not an election rather restatement of her being chairperson for life. That is not a free open election according the rules laid out under the political parties act and will not fly with the government. The PPP knows that and thus we see the PPPP, namely the PPP Parliamentarian group which will contest the elections led by Makhdoom Amin Fahim as President. BB will stay on the outside acting as the know it all Guru. However the government isnt stupid either, lets see if they let the PPPP register without any problems.

Thirdly, this whole thing about BB coming back anyday now, I think this was another media gimmick by the PPP. We have been hearing about BB's return for a few years now, if she really has nothing to fear then she would have. Also I am sure we have all heard about BB's coming back on a chartered plane escorted by US senators/congressmen, along with other foreign dignitaries. Well, that would be perfect. I hope she does that, because then it would not inconvenience poor passengers travelling back home when the plane gets diverted from Lahore/Karachi (BB's pick) to an undisclosed airport due to security concerns for the people on board where they are cordially escorted off the plane and BB is given her boarding pass to the next flight of con-air to the prison of her choice.

Lastly about the make-up of the next parliament. Well, my initial thinking was that the government was going to try to create another coalition vis a vis the IJI that supports the government. However, it seems more and more that we will be seeing a hung parliament with no one party having enough votes to form the government. That is why the government included among its amendments the provision allowing the President to pick the PM from parliament (now being scapped I think). In anycase, if there is a hung parliament it can play to the advantage of the government as parties will have to agree to many of the terms the government wants. Whereas the government is I think finding it easier to deal with smaller groups individually rather than trying to get various parties to join together. The main goal is to get those parties in parliament that will solidify government reforms, one does not need any one party with a majority to that, rather smaller parties with an understanding with the government will do just fine. That way it will be also become more difficult to undo those changes as no one party has the influence/votes to do so.

Anyways, just my thoughts. Lets see what happens. ;)
;) ;)

wasalaam
Ali Mian

Malghani:

>>>Whatever the reception might be for BB. One thing that I know is that she has not been convicted of any corruption. <<<

As someone who detests and abhors military rule (for an array emotional, legal and moral reasons) even I am mazed at your hair-splitting.

So I kill someone or just steal a few million from my bank and disappear to Brazil; then a few years later when I return I should only be arrested for "not turning up for a hearing", right?? :(

Well I will give you a more valid reason for her arrest: she provided moral support to the Indians on the eve of a potential war just a few months ago by giving interviews to the Indian papers criticising Pakisatni govt. If that is not treason, I will have to buy a new dictionary.

Look, people like BB and N Sharif are behaving like Papa Doc&Baby Doc of Haiti and making Pakistan look like a banana republic. Is it not time a fresh crop of leaders was given a chance?

Remember:

Military rule might not be perfect but it is and has always been the LEAST WORST option for our country. This is the UNVERSAL TRUTH. You ask anyone (inside or outsidePak), except for the "Papa Docs & the Baby Docs of Pak politics", and they will confirm it.

Assalamu aleikum,

Another brilliant piece from Ikram Sehgal:

Benazir blinks!

Ikram Sehgal
The Bhutto family functions on the premise that most Pakistanis have very short memories, unfortunately they are quite right. Ms Benazir was the first major politician to welcome the military regime's dispatching of Mian Nawaz Sharif on Oct 12, 1999, the "honeymoon" went on for sometime. The PPP Chairperson finally realised that the one-sided "love affair" was going nowhere, the military regime being in no mood to drop corruption charges against her or her husband, Asif Zardari. Frustrated in the hope that on the basis of "an enemy of an enemy is a friend", the military regime's animosity towards Mian Nawaz Sharif would force political compromise with her. Ms Benazir did a smart U-turn, transforming her politics into virulent opposition. A consummate political animal, she gave the appearance of keeping back channels open to the COAS, mainly to shore up the morale of her increasingly demoralised supporters who were expecting some relief in Nawaz's ouster. When the military regime denied any such contact, she declared "war" on the Pakistan Army.
For the past eight months Ms Benazir has been assailing the defenders of this country, synchronising her attacks on our men in uniform in line with India's contention, i.e. Pakistan Army is to blame for cross-border terrorism across the LoC, the attack on Indian Parliament, harbouring and sponsoring terrorism of all kind, etc. To retain the loyalty of her party workers while in self-imposed exile, she has kept a barrage of misleading propaganda going, the latest being that she would return to Pakistan by special aircraft on August 14 and fight the elections despite the election laws. This brinkmanship may be brilliant politically, the fact remains that other than being forced to knuckle down to the existing reality of the military regime's ground rules for politics in Pakistan, she has succumbed to internal pressure within PPP forcing her to nominate Makhdoom Amin Fahim as the head of a newly created Parliamentary entity of the PPP. Her choice as rubber-stamp was Aftab Shahban Mirani. Winking at the military regime for sometime, she then tried international pressure to stare them out, Ms Benazir has now blinked.
Ms Benazir's father exploded the myth in 1970 that Pakistan was the preserve of veteran political forces, mostly feudals, and there was no room for Johnny-cum-lately upstarts in the Pakistani political process. Thirty years later his daughter is trying to desperately to project another myth, that PPP will sweep the other parties like chaff in the October elections. PPP is a major national party, about that one should not have any doubt but it is far from being the political force it was in the 1970 elections, every subsequent elections has seen it lose ground, dropping to its lowest ebb in 1997. More importantly, one does not see young faces in PPP, only the old guards remain, but the Jiyalas do remain faithful! In 1993 a trio of generals placed in critical slots under the Moin Qureshi caretaker regime manipulated PPP's forming of a coalition to make the government. Has anyone yet explained how and why the MQM and its 14 seats were made to boycott the NA elections in 1993, and why in 18 critical urban-rural seats, the electoral position changed after midnight from favouring PML (N) to PPP. I hold no brief for Mian Nawaz Sharif but the fact remains that PML (N) was cheated out of making the government in 1993.
While Ms Benazir represents the most potent of political forces in South Asia, the family personality cult, the PPP continues to have very fine and capable politicians who can win their individual seats in their own independent capacities. Within interior Sindh, PPP remains a very strong political entity and will certainly win a majority of the seats in both the NA and PA elections. In the Sindh urban area, they are still no match for the MQM, which incidentally was the only Party to conduct Party polls in an organised and transparent manner. It was a treat to watch the democratic process, one hopes that their militancy will remain within bounds. The Sindhi nationalist forces cannot be brushed away, including PML (N), PML (Q-A), PML (F) etc. they also have safe family seats which they will certainly win whatever the circumstances. As far as NWFP and Balochistan is concerned, PPP is in real danger of not even getting a single seat for the first time in its history. NWFP is estranged PPP leader Sherpao's territory and while his faction of the PPP may not get the majority, alongwith either the ANP or PML's other faction, they can cobble together the Provincial Government. Punjab is the real battleground and the appointment of Shahbaz Sharif in place of Mian Nawaz Sharif as President PML (N) has drastically changed the political dynamics. PPP depends upon individual political heavyweights to win their own constituencies, particularly in Southern Punjab. The PPP was relying on the PML remaining fractured among ego lines, for sometime it was a political reality, with Shahbaz around it will not remain so.
What PML (N) should have done in 1999 (and even earlier) they have done now, Mian Nawaz Sharif making way for his brother. A very nice man, Mian Sahib was a disaster as a Sher Shah Suri, known more for his making the GT Road but who really conceived and implemented a superb administration. As Chief Minister Punjab, Shahbaz did an excellent job and thus has a potent vote bank. The problem is that the major leaders are in PML (Q-A), these individual personalities will win their own constituencies. Shahbaz will have to toe a fine line between family preferences and political realities. While it is too early to erase the bad blood, particularly with the Chaudhrys of Gujrat, the PML factions will do well by having seat adjustments, primarily on the format that none of the factions would oppose MNA/MPA elected to the 1997 Assemblies. On those seats rendered vacant because of attrition due to electoral losses, disqualification, deaths, etc. there could be give and take. With seat adjustment PML will be by far the strongest grouping in Punjab. With the help of ANP-PPP Sherpao combine in NWFP and MQM in Sindh, they can easily form the Federal Government and the Governments of Punjab and NWFP. The PPP will certainly have the best chance of making a government in Sindh but they will be hard put to do so in the face of determined challenge from a coalition of MQM, PML factions, the Sindh nationalist parties and independents.
Important political forces like Awami National Party (ANP) and Muttahida Quami Mahaz (MQM) will get significant number of seats, enough to make them king-makers but not enough for them to be kings themselves. Of the new comers, Imran Khan's Tehrik-i-Insaf and Farooq Leghari's Millat Party will have votes but not many seats, having some political nuisance value. Imran's gray area is a substantial number of youth between the ages of 18 and 26 can be seen supporting him, how they actually vote on Election Day is another matter, can Imran convert his charisma into seats? This applies to the urban rather than the rural youth. Having no political heavyweights can be an advantage because our youth is turned off from the veteran corruption-laden political machinery of yesteryears.
One cannot write off the religious parties despite their Afghan and subsequent failure to pass muster in the streets when the chips are down. They will always have NA seats, in the NWFP and Balochistan Assemblies they will be able to be part of the ruling governments. In a close contest they may even make a difference in the Centre.
According to Ms Benazir she returns in four days time on 14 August, is this another one in her series of bluffs or is it for real? For reasons of "national security", corruption, etc. the military hierarchy is not enamoured of her. The mood among the rank and file, particularly the younger lot is rather more hostile, they have been facing the enemy on the borders while she has been staunchly pro-Indian on every conceivable media channel for the past several months. Ms Benazir does not have a corner on becoming emotional on various issues, Sepoy Nathu Khan once aroused on issues of patriotism can quite be dangerous, to the point of being lethal.
The next 60 days are likely to be very interesting and given Pakistan's political history we have not seen the last of the twists and turns.
E-mail queries and comments to: ikramsehgal@nation.com.pk

http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/today/editor/opi1.htm

For the past eight months Ms Benazir has been assailing the defenders of this country, synchronising her attacks on our men in uniform in line with India's contention, i.e. Pakistan Army is to blame for cross-border terrorism across the LoC, the attack on Indian Parliament, harbouring and sponsoring terrorism of all kind, etc.

Traitor from cradle to the grave.

Asalaamo-a-laikum.

Rabid cow! They shouldn't let her back into Pakistan even to be buried.

Her thieving husband should die in prison and be made to pay for the phone calls he makes before he croaks. He stole enough money when he had the chance and we don't need to be paying his phone bill when he can easily afford it himself!
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'I never asked for power'

Benazir Bhutto, the Muslim world's first woman leader, was once Pakistan's greatest political hope. Then she was sacked for corruption and fled. She tells Rory McCarthy why she is determined to go home, risk jail and try again

Thursday August 15, 2002
The Guardian

She doesn't seem like the woman to unseat a military regime. Sitting on the sofa in her fourth-floor Kensington apartment, Benazir Bhutto is sipping on her Starbucks chai, a fond memory of the sugary, milky tea that is a mainstay of the Pakistani life she left behind long ago. To one side are dozens of well-thumbed copies of Hello! magazine. On another table a copy of the London Property News celebrates the surge in house prices. Water tinkles incessantly through a small mock-Japanese fountain in the fireplace and her children scamper through back rooms in the flat.
Once this woman was Pakistan's greatest political hope. Her legacy was impeccable and her supporters numerous and devoted. Her father, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, was perhaps Pakistan's most popular leader, a man with a real sense of the deprivation suffered by the majority in his country, and with a rare ability to grasp popular support. Unseated in a coup by General Zia ul-Haq in 1977 he was hanged two years later. The young Benazir Bhutto spent a traumatic 30 minutes with her father the day before he was executed and was then jailed herself for five years. The bitter rivalry between the Bhuttos and the army has never been extinguished.

Bhutto soon stepped out of her father's shadow and after studying at Oxford and Harvard she returned to a fanatical welcome in Pakistan in 1986 as thousands thronged to her speeches, eager to catch sight of the new Bhutto. Within two years she was the first female prime minister in the Muslim world and one of the most powerful women on the globe. But all too quickly the dream disintegrated. Bhutto was twice sacked as prime minister on charges of misrule and corruption and then soundly beaten in elections in 1997. Her husband was jailed and eventually she fled the country, hounded by more corruption allegations. That, she reminds me, was exactly three years and four months ago. Now the tide has turned.

This summer there has been a sudden rush of supplicants calling at her London apartment desperate to stand as candidates for her party in the coming elections in Pakistan. In the drawing rooms of the political elite in Islamabad the hunch is that Bhutto, at 54 the great matriarch of the Pakistani political scene, could sweep the October polls and mount the first serious challenge to the military regime.

The only trouble is that General Pervez Musharraf, the army chief who seized power in a coup in October 1999, doesn't want her back. He likes to tell Pakistanis as often as he can how she "mismanaged" and "corrupted" the country. Bhutto will, he has warned, go straight to jail should she dare to fly home (she has already been convicted of failing to appear before a court to answer charges of corruption). He has introduced a rash of new constitutional amendments which bar her from contesting a seat in the October polls and from becoming prime minister for a third term. Her lawyers are challenging the amendments, and the prospect of a few weeks in jail does not seem to put her off. Most pundits in Pakistan readily admit it would give her cause a tremendous boost to be seen as another Bhutto martyred by a military dictatorship. "Of course, I want to go back if I can contest those elections," she says. "I can fight the elections from prison if I am allowed to contest my seat."

There had been plans to fly home as early as this week. Those have now been shelved, although preparations have been made to book a plane - either a private charter, or a scheduled PIA or Emirates flight. The danger is that if she does return and her lawyers lose the legal case against the constitutional amendments, she could find herself unable to take part in the elections and remain a prisoner not just for weeks but for years. After all, her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, has now served a total of eight-and-a-half years in jail and has yet to be convicted of a crime.

"If I am stopped from fighting the elections, then it is a new situation and then my party and I would have to sit down and take stock of that," she says. "It is one thing being able to contest an election and to give the people hope that I can be the next prime minister. It is a totally different situation where the people of Pakistan are told that the results are already taken and the leader of your choice is banned."

Bhutto is a survivor and has an infinite belief in herself and her abilities. Rarely does she reveal even glimpses of her true character or her real thoughts. She may have genuinely not yet decided whether to return. Or she may have accepted that she can never return, but intends to leave the military on tenterhooks for as long as possible. Despite Musharraf's hostility, Bhutto's party is still the strongest political force in Pakistan and she is the only Pakistani politician with any natural charisma.

In the flesh Bhutto is immediately charming. Flirtatious, funny, questioning and eager to listen, she spends her conversations continually and self-consciously adjusting the translucent white dupatta covering her long, thick hair. Her features are striking. She is tall, her eyes are dark and her accent finely chiselled. She insists on dressing conservatively in the public eye, but she bears none of the haughtiness that has been a trademark of her political rivals. Few Pakistani politicians truly enjoy engaging with their crowds of supporters and rarely give more than a brisk wave from inside their expensive, air-conditioned four-wheel drives. Bhutto has a much more refined political touch and always delights in meeting the people who have come out to support her, frequently singling out the women in particular. It is this effusive but innate charm which has created for her such a reputation. And it is this charisma, allied to the fact that rival political parties are now largely split or discredited, that means that, even without her return, her Pakistan People's Party will probably romp home in the October polls.

This massive support from a male-dominated Islamic republic for such a westernised woman is difficult to fathom. It has been many years since politics in Pakistan was about policies not personalities, but she insists her party offers a serious political agenda. The party stands for enhanced power to Pakistan's provinces, which have often felt squeezed out by the Punjab in the past, she says. It means parliamentary democracy and social emancipation for women (concentrating on the problems of domestic violence). Perhaps most importantly it means negotiations with India to find a diplomatic solution to the Kashmir dispute. "Ordinary Pakistanis feel that when we are there they get something out of it," she says. But as she continues to explain her family's political staying power her train of thought becomes increasingly ethereal. Eventually she puts it down to a dynastic belief in Sufism, the mystical branch of Islam. "I find that whenever I am in power, or my father was in power, somehow good things happen. The economy picks up, we have good rains, water comes, people have crops. I think the reason this happens is that we want to give love and we receive love."

Musharraf and Pakistan's anti-corruption investigators have a less charitable view of the Bhuttos. They have repeatedly insisted that Bhutto and her husband, who served as investment minister in her government, stole at least £830m from the state coffers during their time in power. The couple have, they claim, 26 different bank accounts across the world (most in Switzerland) and own 14 properties, including a stud farm in Texas, six houses in Florida, the Kensington flat and Rockwood House, a £2.5m country estate in Surrey. Last year, Britain handed over 22,000 pages of documents detailing the couple's assets to Pakistani investigators. Yet the only corruption conviction against her was overturned on appeal last year after judges discovered an astonishing series of attempts to rig the trial. Bhutto insists she can challenge the military on every allegation she faces and that the money behind the property was legally obtained. "Let's say Rockwood House belongs to my husband. So? Don't you have a house?" She is reluctant to admit ownership of her plush Kensington apartment, which she says is owned by "whomsoever owns it".

After all, she reminds us, she has owned properties for years. "But if I have property, what is wrong with having property? I am not an un-propertied woman." (The clash between her obvious wealth and her belief in the ascetics of Sufism appears to her no contradiction. Later in the conversation she insists she is "detached in a sense from the material world.")

Yet in an unguarded moment of honesty she admits her husband, who was a wealthy socialite and playboy before their marriage and since accused of staggering corruption, may have been at fault. He was "not an angel". "I think that my husband also associated with certain people which gave him a bad name. I think my husband also had a different view about patronage than what is now acceptable. But to say that he broke the law, to say that he stole money, to say that he was involved in illegal acts is wrong."

Her commitment is remarkable. Many blamed her political downfall on her husband's unbridled extravagance (he was known as "Mr 10 Percent" for allegedly taking huge kickbacks on the government contracts he awarded.) Some aides told her to drop him for the sake of her career. Instead, she has stood by the man she wed through an arranged marriage and who presented her on their engagement with a ring engraved with the words: "Until death do us part." For more than half their married life he has been in jail. They now speak on the telephone for an hour a week. He is allowed another 30 minutes a week to speak to their three children: Bilawal, 13, Bakhtwar, 12, and Aseefa, nine. Dozens of intelligence agents listen in.

During the past three years she has spent in exile, the military has repeatedly offered to free her husband if she promises to give up politics. This clearly infuriates her. "This is the view that I have spent a quarter of a century fighting. They think women are extensions of men and they think that a woman can be got through her husband." Perhaps, more pragmatically, she also believes it would be a sign of weakness in the face of her opponents. "I find it very hard to turn around and say to the 140m people of Pakistan that you gave me your love but I walked away for the sake of my husband." The queen of hyperbole doesn't blink.

At the end, she is left fighting the same battle with the military that her family has fought since Zia's coup 25 years ago. In the intervening years, the army has grown ever larger, the military's intelligence agencies ever more powerful. She is still prepared to strike a deal with the current military regime if it promises to reverse the latest constitutional amendments and allow freer participation in the elections. That now seems unlikely. Instead the Bhuttos and the generals are likely to fight it out for many years to come. It is difficult to understand why she bothers to countenance a return home if it is not for an addiction to power. "Whatever my aims and agendas were, I never asked for power. I think they need me. I don't think it's addictive. I think, if anything, it's the opposite of addictive. You want to run away from it, but it doesn't let you go. It's doing it again."

Here is a gem from Sunday Times (UK) 12th May, 2002 [Main Section - Page 25]:

Bibi Bhutto (during her time as PM) asked the CIA to brief her on Pak’s nuke capability as her own military did not trust her and therefore did not give her access to the privilaged info on Pak nukes.


I’d say the military got it right !!!:D :eek: :D

Benazir Bhutto homecoming will end in jail: Musharraf - ISLAMABAD, Aug 20: Pervez Musharraf told AFP that Benazir Bhutto would be arrested immediately if she flew back to Pakistan as planned to contest October 10 elections. "She goes to jail" as a convicted absconder, Musharraf said when asked about Bhutto's much vaunted plan to head home after four years in self-imposed exile to contest parliamentary polls. Musharraf said if Bhutto went ahead with her plans he would not prevent her plane landing at Pakistani airports, nor prevent her entering the country through airport immigration. "Against Benazir there are dozens of cases. She better face them," he said. Shahbaz, who has been in exile with some 16 members of the Sharif clan in Saudi Arabia for 20 months, would also be stymied in his homecoming bid, Musharraf said. "He'll board the next plane and go back to Saudi Arabia," if he tries to fly into Pakistan. "He can't come back." (AFP) (Posted @ 10:40 PDT)

Zardari & bhutto Tonga Party - I mean PPPP - nominate their own families and pet cats and dogs too as candidates...............


BHUTTO'S HUSBAND, HIS THREE SISTERS NOMINATED AS PARTY CANDIDATES.


Excerpt from report by Pakistani newspaper The News web site on 21 August

Nawabshah: For two seats of the National Assembly and five seats of the Sindh Assembly, the PPPP [Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians] has nominated former Senator Asif Ali Zardari, all his three sisters - Dr Fouzia Zardari, Faryal Talpur and Dr Azra Pechuho - former Senator Ghulam Qadir Chandio, former Provincial Minister Ahmed Ali Khan Jalbani, Sardar Jam Tamachi, former Chairman District Council Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah, Syed Bagh Ali Shah and Aftab Zardari...

The political parties were still in search of strong candidates while candidates were looking for tickets from stronger parties and this trend was causing a rapid change in the list of candidates.

Source: The News web site, Islamabad, in English 21 Aug 02.
BBC Worldwide Monitoring/ (c) BBC 2002.

Earlier this year, while the whole muslim Palestinian population was under medieval barbaric siege for months at the hands of Ariel Sharon, I saw “BB” (his nickname) Natenyahu speak to thousands at the Trafalgar Square. Nateyahu was eloquently trying to justify the actions of Ariel Sharon.

The less said about Sharon the better; However it should be remembered that Natenyahu was forced out of the office kicking and screaming, following detailed allegations of bribery and sexual adventures. Nevertheless now, when abroad, he justifies the actions of the Israeli government even when Israeli troops are killing unarmed Palestinian women and children who could not throw even a bread crumb (if they have one !!) let alone a stone at anyone.

Now contrast that with Pak former PM: this weekend the same venue (Trafalgar square) will be the setting for BB Bhutto to blast the Pakistani government and may even go on to accuse her our nation of involvement in terrorism. Are the Pakistani people so senseless to even consider having this traitor back in the country? Or maybe the people get the leaders that they deserve …………….


Have Pakistani politicians no sense of decency?

Quote:

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Originally posted by Lazarus
Have Pakistani politicians no sense of decency? [/B]

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In a simple sentence, NO.


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Benazir files papers for 2 NA seats


By M.B. Kalhoro

LARKANA, Aug 22: Nomination papers of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto for two National Assembly seats were filed on her behalf by some PPP leaders here on Thursday.

The former prime minister is a candidate from the constituencies of NA-204 Larkana-I and NA-207 Larkana-IV.

Ms Bhutto has attached a copy of her MA degree from Oxford University with the nomination papers. Mohammad Ayaz Soomro, president of the district bar association and senior vice-president of the PPP in Larkana district, and Dr Ashraf Abbasi, a former deputy speaker of the National Assembly, filed Ms Bhutto's papers with the returning officer for NA-204 Larkana-I, Abdul Ghani Soomro. This was the constituency from where Begum Nusrat Bhutto had previously been elected.

Later, they went to Ratodero and filed her papers for NA-207 Larkana-IV with Akhlaque Hussain Larik, the additional district and sessions judge.

Advocate Zulqarnain Abro and Mazhar Ali Junejo are the proposer and seconder of Ms Bhutto for NA-204, respectively. Aijaz Leghari and Shafique Ahmed Soomro are the proposer and seconder for NA-207, respectively.

Mr Soomro said that scrutiny of papers for NA-204 and NA-207 would be held on Aug 26 and Aug 30, respectively. It would only be after the scrutiny that the returning officer would announce the acceptance or rejection of nomination papers, he added.

Shamim-ur-Rahman adds from Karachi: Ms Bhutto's petition challenging the government's bid to prevent her from contesting the elections is now fixed for pre-admission hearing on Aug 27.

Her counsel's plea for restraining the returning officers from pronouncing order on her nomination papers until her petition is decided, was not accepted by a division bench of the Sindh High Court.

Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed observed that "you can always file a nomination paper. The court can always grant you relief if it comes to a conclusion that amendments are invalid".

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http://www.dawn.com/2002/08/23/top5.htm

>>>>>>>>>>>>Nomination papers of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto for two National Assembly seats were filed on her behalf by some PPP leaders here on Thursday.

Advocate Zulqarnain Abro and Mazhar Ali Junejo are the proposer and seconder of Ms Bhutto for NA-204, respectively. Aijaz Leghari and Shafique Ahmed Soomro are the proposer and seconder for NA-207, respectively. <<<<<<<<<<<<


Well, if Ms Bhutto’s papers are not rejected then I will contact Messrs Zulqarnain, Mazhar Ali Junejo, Aijaz Leghari and Shafique Ahmed Soomro to be the proposers and seconders for the nomination of my dog, India.

Rupees50,000 is a lot of money but what the hell, at least my dog will have his very own seat in the Parliament …………………....:D :D :D

Assalamu aleikum,

Lazarus, your dog has my vote if the choice is between him/her and BB. ;):D:cool:

Lazarus.. please do not humiliate and belittle your dog by making it stand against BB !!

PPP names Benazir for reserved seats :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:


By Our Reporter

KARACHI, Aug 24: Benazir Bhutto's name is at the top of the list of People's Party Parliamentarians candidates for the women's reserved NA seats from Sindh, sources said.

According to Raja Pervez Ashraf, secretary-general PPP, who has provided the list of candidates for reserved women seats, Sherry Rahman, Ruqaiya Soomro, Fauzia Wahab, Rubina Qaimkhani, Nafisa Raja, Shagufta Jumani, Dr Ashraf Abbasi, Nuzhat Pathan, and Rashida Panhwar are also on the list.

The 30 names finalized for the provincial assembly seats are: Nuzhat Pathan, Dr Mehreen Bhutto, Farheen Mughal, Fariha Haroon, Shama Mitthani, Shazia Ata Mari, Saira Shahliani, Nasreen Chandio, Ms Qambar Ali Leghari, Bano Saghir, Shamim Ara Panhwar, Rai Naz Bozdar, Irshad Jilani, Rukhsana Parveen Shah Bokhari, Humaira Alwani, Kulsoom Chandio, Hina Dastageer, Humaira Usto, Eram Afshan, Mumtaz Mahal, Ratna Bhgwandas, Surriya Jatoi, Dr Khalida Sikandar Mendhro, Farzana Baloch, Asma Jokhio, Rashida Panhwar, Shahnaz Soomro, Racheal McMilliandas, Dr Ruby, and Farzana Soomro.

http://www.dawn.com/2002/08/25/top7.htm