FORMER Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto and President Pervez Musharraf reached agreement on a national reconciliation accord that paves the way for a power-sharing deal, officials said overnight. "They have agreed on the draft and it will be issued by the president tomorrow. Benazir Bhutto has given her assent," Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid, a close confidant of the president, said.
The reconciliation agreement gives an amnesty for politicians who served in Pakistan between 1988 and 1999, effectively clearing Ms Bhutto of the corruption charges that forced her into exile after her two terms in office. "The agreement says that there will be an across-the-board indemnity for public office holders between 1988 and 1999," a senior government official who has seen the draft said on condition of anonymity.
It also says that if Pakistan's main graft-busting body wants to lodge a case against a politician it must first go through a special parliamentary committee "to avoid allegations of political motivations", the official said. Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party has for its part agreed to withdraw a legal petition filed in the Supreme Court that seeks to have Sunday's presidential election postponed, the official said. |