In an interview with Sunday Times, former Pak PM Benazir Bhutto has said she wanted a deal with President Gen Pervez Musharraf, evoking an immediate response from the government which ruled out such a possibility.

“There can be no deal with those who looted this country,” information minister, Mohammad Ali Durrani, told reporters here. He, however, said the government would welcome Bhutto’s support to Gen. Musharraf’s policies which serve the best interests of the country.

Sunday Times quoted Bhutto as saying in the interview that she wanted a deal with President Musharraf but it will be ‘premature’ to say one is imminent.

Bhutto’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar said the Sunday Times has “misquoted” her. She did not say she wanted the deal but talked about continuing contacts to reach an understanding on issues that should ensure holding of free, fair and transparent elections.

In a related development PM Shaukat Aziz told a meeting of the central committee of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML) that there would be no deal with any political party outside the present ruling coalition. He said the PML will contest next elections on the basis of its performance and the support of other partners in the coalition.

His railways minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed who is believed to be close to Gen. Musharraf told a news conference in Rawalpindi Monday afternoon that negotiations with Benazir Bhutto have entered the “final” stage. He said Bhutto has shown greater maturity, pragmatism and political sagacity than the exiled PM Nawaz Sharif. He said an understanding between President Musharraf and Bhutto would have far reaching political implications.

In a TV interview last week without naming Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif said a ‘deal’ with Nawaz Sharif would be an act of treason and denounced covert talks with Musharraf or his emissaries amounted to “betrayal” which people would never endorse.

Sunday Times quoted Bhutto as saying she is convinced Musharraf would get himself elected from present assemblies. She praised Musharraf for his policies to protect minorities and women. She claimed that it would be in Pakistan’s interest if they reach an accord but thought that it would be difficult to work with the General in case she becomes PM.

The paper said the former PM is going to make a defiant return from exile to lead her party’s election campaign and seek a controversial third term in office. Bhutto, 53, has vowed to go back despite the “danger of assassination by Islamists”, whom she accuses of bringing Taliban campaigns to Islamabad.

Benazir, however, said she was not afraid.

Last week, she confirmed that the PPP was in negotiations with supporters of Gen Pervez Musharraf to secure free elections to the National Assembly and to reach an understanding on how the two leaders would work together if she won.

She said the Musharraf government seemed powerless in the face of Islamic militancy, allowing extremists in some madarsas to extend their influence. “We feel the lack of governance is leading to social problems and that the madarsas are moving in to fill the gap,” she said.

After the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, the Jihadis were providing relief before the government, Benazir said, “The ruling party has failed to check the Madrassas. They’re forcing barbers to stop shaving beards. They’ve raided music shops and they’re bringing Taliban campaigns into Islamabad while the state watches. The government has got to take control.”

The PPP leader said the government could start by sacking the government-appointed cleric at Islamabad’s Lal Masjid, who has threatened a suicide bombing campaign if Musharraf confronts radical students using Taliban tactics to close brothels and DVD shops.

Another four soldiers were wounded in the attack, said police Brig. Saeed Ahmed al-Jibouri, director of Ninevah police.

The ambush occurred around 10 am in the al-Abdaiyah area of Mosul, a Sunni Muslim city, 360 km northwest of Baghdad, he said. — AP

Baghdad, April 16
The political movement of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered its six ministers to quit the government today partly to press a demand for a timetable for a US troop withdrawal.

''We found it necessary to issue an order to the ministers of the Sadrist bloc to withdraw immediately from the Iraqi government,'' Nassar al-Rubaie, head of the bloc, told a news conference.

Rubaie was reading out a statement on behalf of Sadr.

The move is unlikely to bring down the administration of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki but it could create tensions in his fractious government of national unity.

The Sadrists have said they would remain in Parliament.

Maliki has said he sees no need to set a timetable for an American troop withdrawal because his government was working to build up Iraq's security forces as quickly as possible so the US-led forces could leave.

Tens of thousands of Iraqis answered a call by Sadr to rally in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf last week to protest against the presence of some 1,40,000 US-led forces in Iraq.

The Sadrists ended a two-month boycott of Parliament in January after pulling out in protest over the timetable issue and a meeting between Maliki and US President George W Bush.

They returned after a deal was brokered.

Bush said last week that setting timetables for a troop withdrawal would undermine a U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown in Baghdad, which he said was beginning to show signs of progress in curbing sectarian violence. — Reuters

Dhaka, April 16
Another son of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia was arrested by the military-backed government as part of its crackdown against corruption, 46 days after her influential eldest son was taken in custody.

Arafat Rahman Koko was arrested from the former Prime Minister's residence in the Cantonment area here after midnight yesterday, officials said today.

Joint military and police forces carried out a massive search inside the house while senior officials talked to Zia and her son for a "long time" before taking him in custody, private ATN Bangla television and the 'Prothom Alo' newspaper reported.

The arrest of Koko, a low-profile businessman, came 46 days after his high-profile elder brother Tarique Rahman was arrested from the same house in a similar pre-dawn raid and remanded in custody for several days for interrogation on graft and extortion charges.

Rahman now awaits trial at an ordinary prison ward of Dhaka Central Jail. Legal experts said if convicted he could be imprisoned for five years.

Security officials last month searched Koko's advertising firm Adsign and arrested one of his partners from the office on graft charges as part of the ongoing anti-corruption campaign. — PTI