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Re-elect Musharraf to avoid martial law: Fazl

* MMA leader fears repeat of ‘East Pakistan tragedy’
* Says no general will be allowed to seize power from Musharraf
* Sees no harm in Benazir-Musharraf deal ‘if sincere’

By Naveed Siddiqui

ISLAMABAD: Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, said on Tuesday that General Pervez Musharraf should be given “safe passage” through his re-election as president in uniform, to save the country from another bout of martial law.

“I think once again we should all deliberate on this option to avoid a repeat of the East Pakistan tragedy,” Maulana Fazl told Daily Times in an exclusive interview. He was referring to the secession of East Pakistan in 1971 to form Bangladesh.

Maulana Fazl, who is also head of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-Fazl) party and secretary general of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), said that Gen Musharraf could impose another martial law if he failed to win political support for his re-election as president in uniform. He said the support of the international community, particularly the United States, to Gen Musharraf could embolden him to go ahead with this plan. “I think history should not repeat itself and there should be no 1969-like marital law in the country,” he said.

He voiced tacit support for a power-sharing deal between Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairwoman, and Gen Musharraf, provided “it was done in all sincerity”. He claimed the deal was backed by the US and the UK. The president and former prime minister reportedly met in Abu Dhabi last week to work out the details of a deal. Though the government has only confirmed “indirect contacts” between the two, federal ministers Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and Sher Afgan Niazi have confirmed their meeting.

As far as the presidential elections are concerned, Maulana Fazl said nobody from the presidency had so far contacted the MMA in this regard.

He warned that the opposition would not let any general seize power at the behest of Gen Musharraf. “Gone are the days when the masses pinned their hopes on the generals for solution of the country’s problems. Democracy is the ultimate option for the solution of political issues,” he said.

Maulana Fazl did not rule out the possibility of a future coalition government of the PPP and PML at the centre. He predicted that the MMA would win a greater number of seats in NWFP and Balochistan and “sweep the polls” in Punjab and Sindh in the upcoming elections.

He ruled out any rift in the six-party religious alliance, and asserted that his JUI-F would continue to be a major part of the alliance in the upcoming election. He again offered the MMA’s unconditional support to NWFP Governor Ali Jan Orakzai and the Centre for settlement of the Waziristan imbroglio by striking another peace deal with tribal militants.

Fazl was instrumental in brokering the 2006 peace deal in North Waziristan between local Taliban and the government, and a government-sponsored jirga has already called for his help to renegotiate the deal, which collapsed after tribal militants pulled out of it last month.

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