Himalayan News Service

Islamabad, May 13:

The United States is persuading former Pakistani prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif to quit active politics to tone down the opposition to President Pervez Musharraf and to democratise their parties that they remote control from exile, a media report today said.

The intention is that Bhutto’s husband, Asif Ali Zardari, and Sharif’s brother, Shahbaz Sharif, assume control respectively of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) since they are considered more pliant, The News said.

“It is learnt the Americans are expected to take up this sensitive proposal directly with the former premiers to persuade them to quit active politics and assume the role of figureheads,” the newspaper, which generally takes a pro-government line, added.

The US, the newspaper said, believes that Bhutto and Sharif “are no more relevant to Pakistani politics on account of many compelling reasons”.

Bhutto, who faces a slew of corruption charges, divides her time between Dubai and London. She faces arrest if she returns home.

Zardari, who faces similar charges, was earlier this year released after eight years of incarceration, even as the cases against him continue.

Sharif, who was overthrown by Musharraf in a bloodless coup in 1999, lives in exile in Saudi Arabia, under an elaborate deal brokered with the government. Shahbaz Sharif too is in exile in Saudi Arabia. Musharraf has confirmed that his government is in contact with the PPP and the PML-N but has refused to divulge the nature of discussions.

According to The News, US diplomats here have told PPP and PML-N leaders in “plain words” to “convince” both Bhutto and Sharif to “quit active politics”.

Even as party leaders “vehemently opposed” Musharraf’s continued rule and reiterated the demand for restoration of full democracy in Pakistan, “the Americans were of the view that before making such demands, “(the two parties) should start the process of democratisation by bringing in new leadership and holding (internal) elections at all levels”, The News said.

The Americans insisted that both Bhutto and Sharif “should realise as true democrats that they had played their innings in Pakistani politics by becoming prime minister twice. They believe the average power span of a political leader is a decade and both have been at the helm of the country twice,” the newspaper said.

Spokespersons of the PPP and the PML-N, while confirming contacts with US diplomats, have ruled out any leadership change.