By IANS
Islamabad : An aide of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will Tuesday resume talks with former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to work out a mechanism to enable her to return home, but little headway is expected given the rigid stance of both sides.
Bhutto flew into the UAE Monday while Musharraf’s envoy Tariq Aziz is already there.
“The talks will be held on Tuesday,” Daily Times reported, quoting sources as saying that the parleys would focus on the corruption cases pending against Bhutto in Pakistan.
Musharraf has repeatedly said that Bhutto would be arrested if she returns home from her voluntary exile. An earlier round of talks had stalled over Bhutto’s insistence on an amnesty and that the president shed his uniform before seeking re-election.
Musharraf is dangling the bait of a power sharing arrangement with Bhutto with a twin purpose: to reduce opposition to his continuing in office in uniform and to counter another former prime minister and Bhutto bete noir, Nawaz Sharif.
Daily Times said the current round of talks would focus on the cases pending against Bhutto.
“She wanted that the cases against her be blanketed under an amnesty law to be passed by parliament. This is the main hurdle,” the newspaper’s sources said, explaining that the government could not to offer her “blanket cover” because the cases against her were varied in nature.
“The government can move forward on a case-to-case basis,” the sources said, adding that it would also not be possible to fix a cut-off date for offering her amnesty.
“Except the uniform and (corruption) cases, flexibility can be shown on other issues,” the sources said, pointing out that Musharraf would choose the date on which to doff his uniform after his re-election.
“If both sides reach an understanding on all issues, the president may visit the UAE in a couple of days to seal the deal with Benazir Bhutto,” Daily Times quoted its sources as saying.