Musharraf trying to split party, says PPP

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, AUG. 26. A day after the Pakistani military ruler and President, General Pervez Musharraf, had an unscheduled meeting with a senior party leader, the Pakistan People's Party led by Ms. Benazir Bhutto accused the Musharraf regime of attempting to split its rank and file.

The unexpected meeting between Mr. Fahim and Gen. Musharraf has raised suspicions among senior leaders of the PPP. Though Mr. Fahim intimated the party chairperson and took her permission to respond to the invitation from Gen. Musharraf, senior leaders in the party suspect that it could be yet another attempt by the military regime to divide the party. The official explanation was that Gen. Musharraf had invited the senior PPP leader for a discussion on all `national issues', including the recent road map to democracy announced by the military ruler.

However the party is not prepared to buy the explanation.

This was evident from the statement of the PPP spokesman, Mr. Faratullah Babar. ``Though Fahim informed Benazir and the leaders of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy, (ARD), about the sudden invitation, we deeply suspect the intentions behind the invitation.'' He alleged that the military regime recently arrested the party's general secretary and former Minister, Mr. Jahangir Badar, after he refused to succumb to pressure from the Government to engineer a split in the party.

The National Accountability Bureau picked up Mr. Badar last week in Lahore on charges of omission and commission during his tenure as Minister when Ms. Bhutto was the Prime Minister in late 80's. The arrest evoked strong protest from the PPP and other political parties and it was criticised as yet another instance of political vendetta. Local media has quoted Gen. Musharraf as having told Mr. Fahim that his Government was determined to restore democracy by holding elections. It was the third meeting between Gen. Musharraf and the PPP leader in so many months.

The PPP has been alleging pressure on party's middle rung leaders to breakaway after the military regime successfully engineered a split in the Pakistan Muslim League, (PML), led by the deposed Prime Minister, Mr. Nawaz Sharif.

In PML too, while top rung leaders remained Sharif loyalists despite his exile and elected him as leader of the party, a section of the leaders led by dissident, Mr. Mia Azhar, split the party and stayed close to Gen. Musharraf. The PPP believes that the Musharraf Government was desperate to divide the party after it won a majority in the recently held local body polls, despite the Government restrictions and interference. The PPP leaders allege that Gen. Musharraf who wanted to get elected as President after the polls feels threatened by the party's good showing in the elections.

There is a question mark on the continuation of Gen. Musharraf as the President after the general elections scheduled in October next year. Gen. Musharraf got himself installed as the President after removing Mr. Rafiq Tarar through an order under the Provincial Constitutional Order (PCO). It is still not clear as to how exactly Gen. Musharraf intends to continue in office as President once the new assemblies are in place.

If and when the suspended constitution is restored, Gen. Musharraf needs to be elected as President by a two-thirds majority. Such a majority would be a difficult proposition as long as the two former Prime Ministers, Ms. Benazir Bhutto and Mr. Nawaz Sharif, continue to have a hold on their respective parties. According to Pakistan's present Constitution, the President has to get elected by an electoral college comprised of National Assembly, Senate and four Provincial Assemblies. The PPP leaders allege that Gen. Musharraf wanted the established political parties, such as the PPP and the PML, get less number of seats in the National and Provincial Assemblies planned for October 2002, so that he could easily manoeuvre his election.

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