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Benazir's party denies deal with Pak regime

A Correspondent in Karachi

The Benazir Bhutto-led Pakistan People's Party has denied that talks were on for a clandestine deal with the military regime of General Pervez Musharraf for the release of Asif Zardari, Bhutto's husband.

"We are not the ones who strike deals with the military regime... we don't believe in clandestine operations and leaving the country in the darkness of the night," Sindh PPP leader Munnawar Suharwardi told a website.

He was commenting on rumours that the government might also release Zardari in a deal similar to the one it had struck with jailed premier Nawaz Sharief. He said no talks were on for the release of Zardari and if any offer was made by the regime, the party will take a decision in this regard and not Zardari.

Zardari has been in jail for the past four years, and faces several corruption cases. Convicted in at least one corruption case along with his wife, Zardari has also been implicated in two murder cases, one of his brother-in-law Murtaza Bhutto and the other of Justice Nizam and his son.

Benazir is living in exile since slipping out of the country two days before a high court verdict against the couple in a corruption case.

Federal Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider Monday said in Islamabad that the government could also offer similar deals to others facing corruption charges under the accountability law.

Pakistan's military government ruled out the restoration of national assemblies after the exile of deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharief Sunday, the Dawn newspaper reported, citing Majar General Rashid Qureshi, press secretary of chief executive.

He said general elections will be held in 2002. The first step towards establishing real democracy was being taken by the government by holding local council elections on December 31.

Quershi said all the legal requirements had been fulfilled while releasing Sharief and sending him to exile. The government confiscated his property and released him after the he tendered an apology.

Pakistan's military rulers, who seized power in October 1999, are under pressure from the European Union and the US to restore democracy. The country needs their help to reschedule debts of about $37 billion.

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