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B Raman: Musharraf's deadly endgame
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Pakistan's former prime minister Benazir Bhutto [Images] doesn't rule out being arrested by President Pervez Musharraf [Images] under his crackdown against opposition leaders under the martial law he has imposed in Pakistan.
In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer from her home in Karachi, when asked if she feared that she was also about to be arrested among several other opposition figures in Pakistan, Benazir said, "I hope that Gen Musharraf won't take that stand, but I can't rule it out."
She said that she "planned to go to Islamabad and I am having a meeting of other opposition groups and we are planning a peaceful protest on November 9 if Gen Musharraf doesn't come on television before that to announce that elections will be called on November 15 to be held by January 15."
"So I hope he won't take that measure, but I have to join my people in demanding the restoration of our constitution and the restoration of our civil liberties as well as the release of the arrested lawyers and civil society activists," she said.
Benazir acknowledged that she was aware that under the emergency such protests and demonstrations were prohibited and she could be picked up and arrested on the streets of Islamabad.
But she declared, "We have to take some risk in life. We in the party have waited --in the first phase we told our lawyers that you'll go out and under the banner of the bar association have peaceful meetings, and if that doesn't have an impact, then we have to take part ourselves."
"I am a political leader, (and) I can't just let my people go out and protest without doing it myself," she said, and reiterated, "So I would like Gen. Musharraf to come and defuse the situation. I don't want to see these protests on the streets. I don't want to see this pressure on the streets. I want him to defuse the situation."
Earlier, Benazir said she would like Washington to "very clearly tell Gen Musharraf that it's important for him to restore the constitution, to retire as chief of army staff and to hold the elections as scheduled so that they are completed by January 16,2008, which was the original date and that elections must be held under a independent commission so that they are fair, free and impartial".
She said "what happens in Pakistan, will affect the lives of the people of Pakistan, but I am afraid that since Pakistan is a nuclear-armed country, if is facing a threat from a radicalisation and terrorists. (So) Whatever happens in Pakistan is also going to affect the rest of the world".
Asked what the US can do if Musharraf completely rejects such requests--which President Bush said during a photo opportunity with the Turkish Prime Minister in the White House Oval Office, he had instructed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to convey to Musharraf in a telephone call which according to reports she had already done�Benazir said, "The United States must impress upon him to accept this. I cannot imagine how Gen.Musharraf can defy the international community."
"After all," she argued, "Pakistan's economy and Pakistan's armed forces lean heavily on the support they get from the international community. So I feel that a firm message must go out to him."
Benazir said, "The international community must make itself very clear that if Pakistan is to continue receiving its support and assistance, it must move on to the path of democracy by reviving the constitution, by removing the army from direct politics, by Gen Musharraf resigning as chief of army staff and elections being held on time--elections that are feee and fair and reflect the will of the people."
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