Refusing to give details of her meeting with Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has warned rigging in the upcoming elections may lead to public protests and extremists may try to take advantage of the situation.
"My concern is that if the elections are rigged, there will be public protests, and certainly the extremists will try to take advantage by creating anarchy and chaos," she said on the CNN's Late Edition while talking about of the nature of her contacts with the Musharraf regime, her expectations of the forthcoming elections and the relationship between the presidency and the prime minister of Pakistan.
"And Pakistan can't afford that, not with the threat within and the threat the extremists are using our territory, imposing on Afghanistan. So I think it's important that the talks succeed. But we haven't reached there just yet," she added.
Bhutto, declining to say if direct contacts have taken place in Abu Dhabi and other places with Musharraf, said, "The presidency has said that there are no direct contacts, and we haven't officially admitted such contacts."
"There are certain issues, which under the code under which they take place are deemed to be private. So, I would like to just confine myself to saying that there have been contacts between the military regime and the Pakistan People's Party, including myself, and that we have been trying to search for a solution that could take Pakistan peacefully towards a democratic setup," she said.
But on the other level, we have admitted negotiations with the present regime to find a way to get Pakistan onto the democratic track through the holding of fair, free and impartial elections open to all political parties, she added.
Asking for a deadline to resolve the issues, Bhutto said, "We're still working some of the issues. And the time is running out. So I hope that we can make the deadline."
The former prime minister also expressed apprehension of President Musharraf continuing in office and still wearing his uniform as Chief of the Armed Forces.
Bhutto, when asked if a government that included President Musharraf as president and she as prime minister, could function given the history of bad blood between the two said, "I think while General Musharraf and I have been on opposite sides of the pole where issues of dictatorship and democracy are concerned, we have both stated our determination to move Pakistan onto the path of moderation."
"And we have worked together on issues such as women's rights. But I do agree with you that it does carry risks. It carries risks because at the moment, independent surveys showed that two-thirds of Pakistanis are unhappy with General Musharraf," Bhutto said.
"But I still believe that if we can get an agreement for a smooth transfer of power and we can get a balance of power between the presidency and the parliament, we'd be able to come up with a situation where we can undermine terrorism and address the real needs of the people, which I believe are now being neglected," she added.
The former prime minister when asked if under the right circumstances she could work together with President Musharraf in the same government, "If the people of Pakistan gave me a mandate, yes."
"But there would need to be a balance between the powers of the presidency and the powers of the parliament."
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