Via WaPo: Musharraf Agrees to Resign as Army Chief
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has agreed to step down as army chief as part of a broad and once-unthinkable agreement being finalized with his chief political rival, Benazir Bhutto, officials on both sides said Wednesday.
The agreement, if completed, would probably permit Musharraf to continue as president and allow Bhutto to return to Pakistan after eight years of exile to try to win back her old job as prime minister, officials said. More broadly, the deal would fundamentally alter the political landscape in Pakistan, a top U.S. ally on counterterrorism but also a haven for al-Qaeda and other extremist groups.
It is an interesting development that was put into motion by the Supreme Court’s ruling that allowed ousted PM Nawaz Sharif to return to the country from his exile in Saudi Arabia.
As the saying goes, politics makes strange bedfellows:
Bhutto seems to revel in casting herself as everything Musharraf is not, and vice versa. Bhutto, who served twice as prime minister in the 1980s and 1990s, has spent much of the past eight years decrying Musharraf as “a military dictator.” Musharraf, who came to power in a 1999 military-led coup, has accused Bhutto of rampant corruption and has dismissed her tenure as “sham democracy.”
Still, for the moment at least, the two need each other.
The deal would solidify Musharraf’s position and give Bhutto the chance to stage her own return to power:
For Bhutto, the agreement would allow her to return to Pakistan and stand for election to the parliament. If her party, the center-left Pakistan People’s Party, won the most seats, as projected by opinion polls, she would be in line to serve as prime minister.
Bhutto is also expected to win the dismissal of various corruption charges against her and other government officials stemming from the late 1980s and 1990s.
