Musharraf quid pro quo to Pak. parties?

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, JUNE 15. In what appears to be a quid pro quo deal with political parties in the build-up to the coming New Delhi summit meeting, the military government has virtually ended its ban on political rallies.

In a move that took observers by surprise, the Musharraf Government agreed to allow the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD), an umbrella organisation of 18 parties, to hold the planned public meeting in Rawalpindi on August 14.

The ``deal'' was struck late on Thursday night at a meeting between the Chief Executive, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, and the ARD chief, Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, first between the two since the October 1999 coup.

As head of the ARD, which includes Mr. Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League and Ms. Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, Mr. Khan has been in the forefront of the movement for restoration of democracy.

Though the invitation was sudden, the ARD chief seems to have gone prepared to extract the maximum. He made it clear that the constituencies of the ARD could not be expected to endorse the General's Delhi yatra unless he was prepared to concede some of their demands on the domestic front.

The former Prime Minister, Ms. Benazir Bhutto, was the first to link the Delhi visit of Gen. Musharraf to the domestic agenda. In a signed article in a Pakistani newspaper she said her party was not prepared to lend legitimacy to any pact between Gen. Musharraf and Mr. Vajpayee unless the former was prepared to move towards restoration of democracy. If the General expected her party's support, he should announce a concrete schedule for holding elections and releasing all political prisoners.

The PPP's tough posture put the ARD in a spot as the former was not ready to be part of the delegation to meet Gen. Musharraf unless he agreed to its demands. During the meeting, Mr. Khan reiterated the demand of various parties for lifting the ban on political rallies. The initial response of Gen. Musharraf was that the ban was to ensure there was no law and order problem. However, when Mr. Khan assured him that the ARD would take responsibility for peaceful conduct of its rallies, he promised to tell his Interior Minister to permit the Alliance rally on August 15. The ARD would also be allowed to hold its workers conventions.

The military government was attacked within and outside the country for its ban on political rallies and the manner in which select parties were prevented from holding even ``indoor'' meetings.

The ban was originally imposed on the eve of the visit of the then U.S. President, Mr. Bill Clinton, here in March last year. But the military government decided to continue it on the plea that allowing political rallies hampered its reform agenda.

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