Reports of US deal-brokering draw Pakistan anger

ISLAMABAD: The United States was accused on Friday of meddling in Pakistani affairs amid reports Washington is trying to broker a power-sharing deal between President Pervez Musharraf and his arch-rival Benazir Bhutto.   

Sources in both government and opposition denounced reports that Washington is pressuring military ruler Musharraf to come to an arrangement with two-time former prime minister Bhutto ahead of national elections.   

A government spokesman said the choice of national leader lay with the people of Pakistan and should depend on the vote. "Pre-judging the mandate of the people of Pakistan is an insult to the electorate," deputy information minister Tariq Azeem said.   

In a report on Thursday, the New York Times said the United States was discussing reforms with key political players in Pakistan amid reported plans to get Musharraf to share power with Bhutto.   

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discussed the power-sharing arrangement in a telephone call to military ruler Musharraf last week, the newspaper said, quoting American and Pakistani officials.   

Bhutto met Musharraf in the United Arab Emirates last month and according to the Times has also met in recent weeks with senior officials of the Bush administration, including the US envoy to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad.   

US officials believe an alliance with Bhutto would be Musharraf's best chance of remaining president, the report said, noting declining domestic support for the military general, who seized power in a 1999 coup.   

Neither Musharraf nor Bhutto have officially confirmed their meeting.   

Bhutto, who leads the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), has said she wants to return to Pakistan from self-imposed exile to contest the elections, and has called on Musharraf to step down as leader of the army.   

The leader of a powerful hardline Islamic alliance said Musharraf was seeking to stay in power "at any cost" and had allowed US influence in Pakistani political and military affairs to escalate to unprecedented levels.   

"Musharraf's only goal is to stay in power and the Americans want to make full use of his weakness by dictating how our politics should be governed," said Liaqat Baluch.   

He said Washington wanted secular parties to join with Musharraf to block the rise of Islamic parties that would pursue an independent foreign policy free of US influence.   

A senior leader of the party of another exiled former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, said the reports showed how Pakistan's sovereignty had been undermined during Musharraf's eight-year dictatorship.   

"The US role has always been there in Pakistani politics -- but dormant. It has never been so operational and loud," the party official, Raja Zafarul Haq, said.   

The White House said earlier that senior US officials had met with major Pakistani political players in an effort to bring about "a moderate political centre" and free and fair elections.   

"What the United States wants to see is a peaceful, prosperous, secure, stable Pakistan -- that's in the interests of the Pakistanis, the interests of the region, and interests of the whole world," national security council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.   

"We want to see a moderate political centre form there, following democratic processes."   

A PPP win in the elections, slated for early next year, could pave the way for Bhutto to become prime minister, the New York Times said, and her support could be crucial to helping Musharraf to victory.