Bhutto: Musharraf to step down as army chief

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Musharraf urges Sharif exile
In an interview published in Wednesday’s Financial Times, Sharif said he would return before the start of the holy month of Ramadan in mid-September.

Government threats to arrest him on charges dating back to the coup would strengthen his support, he said.

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“Today the people, civil society, the judiciary, the political forces and the media are on one side, and the dictator and his shrinking support are on the other side,” Sharif was quoted as saying.

He said he felt “let down by the United States,” which he has accused of confusing Musharraf’s interests with those of Pakistan as a nation.

Musharraf urged Sharif on Wednesday to abide by an agreement he signed in 2000 to spend a decade in exile in Saudi Arabia in exchange for his release from a jail term.

Sharif should “show character and not violate the agreement,” Musharraf said, according to the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan news agency.

Musharraf: I forsee threats
The prospect of Sharif making a tumultuous return has added to the urgency of an accommodation between Musharraf and Bhutto, who share a relatively liberal, pro-Western outlook and stress the need to prevent the political crisis from destabilizing the nuclear-armed nation.

“I can foresee the external and internal threats and the vested interests that want to create an atmosphere of uncertainty, and urge the people to be wary of it,” Musharraf said.

Musharraf had vowed to prevent either former leader from re-entering Pakistan.

He blames them for the corruption and economic problems that nearly bankrupted the country in the 1990s, when Bhutto and Sharif each had two short-lived turns as prime minister.

But with the United States pressing for more democracy as well as a redoubled effort against al-Qaida and Taliban militants near the Afghan border, Musharraf recently began calling for political reconciliation and an alliance of moderates to defeat extremists.

Ahmed, the railways minister, said an understanding between Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party and Musharraf was expected to be finalized this week.

An accord is expected to include constitutional amendments to allow Musharraf to continue as president and lift bars to Bhutto again becoming prime minister.

Bhutto, wary that Musharraf could revive the corruption cases that she fled into exile in 1999, also wants immunity from prosecution for herself and her old foe, Sharif.