Bhutto wants Mush to take off his uniform

New Delhi: Exiled political leader Benazir Bhutto has put to rest speculations by political analysts on whether she would take the plunge and return to Pakistan, and says she is ready to do so.

The former Pakistani prime minister said this in an interview to a television channel in Pakistan. Benazir also expressed fears that her country is being Talibanised.

"Pakistan is in deep crisis. It must not turn out to be another Iraq. It must not be Talibanised. This is why Nawaz Sharif and I drew up the Charter of Democracy to reform the nation. I will return to Pakistan this year no matter what,” Bhutto said in the television interview.

Bhutto also confirmed that she was in touch with President Pervez Musharraf to work a political rapprochement, but no deal has been finalised yet.

"If the People of Pakistan honour me and elect me as the Prime Minister, I will respect their verdict of the people and as far as the Presidential elections are concerned its too early to say what will happen in that regard. General Musharraf has said that he is going to get himself elected from these assembly. Now we don’t know whether the court will rule that as lawful or unlawful. Its a little premature to comment on the Presidential aspect of the election,” Bhutto told CNN-IBN over the phone.

Though she expressed willingness to work with General Pervez Musharraf, she still believes in the power of the post of the President. She says decisions on security matters can be taken by a President not in uniform.

“The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) would like General Musharraf to take off his uniform, we believe that the military should go back to the barracks and we believe that if we want to restore democracy, we not only need fair election, we need a President who does not wear the military uniform. Presidency has enormous power and we believe that it can still be used where security matters are concerned without the uniform,” she said.

But Benazir's return to Pakistan won't be smooth as many questions need to resolved, and Musharraf's post in the Army is just one of them.

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