WASHINGTON, Aug 25: Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has accused PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain of preventing President Pervez Musharraf from finalising a deal with her.

In a five-page interview with the Washington Post, which will be published on Sunday, Ms Bhutto alleged that Chaudhry Shujaat was urging the president to forge an alliance with the MMA.

“He is telling Musharraf to go with the enemy — the religious parties — and we can get you re-elected and we don’t need the PPP,” she said.

“I think Chaudhry Shujaat is setting Musharraf up for failure. He’s saying: ‘Seek election and I will be your cover candidate.’ ”

The PPP chairperson also alleged that a lot of the people involved in the Afghan jihad were supporting Chaudhry Shujaat. “If Musharraf is knocked out by the courts, guess who will be the president? Chaudhry Shujaat,” said Ms Bhutto while explaining why she believes the PML-Q leader is setting President Musharraf up for failure.

“It’s under his party that the extremists have spread in power. Musharraf thinks he needs these people but they are planning to depose him,” she said. “He trusts them because he’s been working with them. To us, it’s a fight between moderation and extremism.”

Ms Bhutto said that Gen Musharraf had contacted her after their first meeting in Abu Dhabi last year and she expected him to get back to her by the end of the month with a decision on the demands submitted to him.

The former prime minister said that if her negotiations with Gen Musharraf fell apart, she can always turn to other political parties to work together for restoring democracy to Pakistan, but not the PML-N.

“Nawaz Sharif and I had a falling out over the MMA. I think they are the supporters of extremist groups. Nawaz wanted an alliance with them and I did not. As long as he is with them and they are in government, we will go as a third force,” Ms Bhutto said.

“The military tries to say that the alternative (to Musharraf) is the religious parties, which is not the right argument. The third force is the democratic force.”

Ms Bhutto said since 2002, the military, the religious parties and Chaudhry Shujaat have been in power and their alliance put Pakistan on the path to militancy and extremism. “Musharraf has to decide whether to go with the moderate forces and to accept the people’s democratic choice.”

Asked will President Musharraf choose the democratic path without US pressure, Ms Bhutto said: “He says he has an interest, but Chaudhry and those who supported the rise of militancy don’t have an interest and are trying to sabotage the understanding.”

Ms Bhutto said that under the power-sharing arrangement she was discussing with Mr Musharraf, he would continue to be the commander-in-chief of the armed forces as president, but will have to retire from the army. The president, she said, will also have to give the power to dissolve the parliament and sack an elected government.

“I don’t want the security services to disagree with my attack on internal militancy and get him to sack the parliament once again, … which is why president must give up the power (to dissolve the parliament).”

She added: “In a perfect situation, the prime minister should have power over the armed services. But in this transition period, if Musharraf is still commander-in-chief of the armed forces, he will still appoint the army chiefs … and control the military.”

Ms Bhutto recalled that when she met him in Abu Dhabi, she told Gen Musharraf that she will not accept a president who is also the army chief and that’s why he needs to quit the army and he said he would respect the Constitution.

While listing the issues that she has discussed with the president, Ms Bhutto indicated that she has been talking to Gen Musharraf even before they met in Abu Dhabi last month. “Lifting the ban on a twice-elected prime minister, he said yes to that in July. And also immunity to holders of public office from 1988 to 2000, he said yes to that in January of this year,” Ms Bhutto recalled.

“I expected him to do the lifting of the ban on the twice-elected prime minister and the immunity for public officers by the end of August,” she said. “Because he plans to get elected 15 days later in September, my party needs to see these steps if we are expected to take a certain course of action during the elections.”

Ms Bhutto said that President Musharraf does not want her party to vote for him when he seeks re-election, but he doesn’t want PPP supporters marching in the streets and agitating against him.

“My party says that we have to oppose the presidential election because it is illegal. I have said that if he takes confidence-building measures, then we don’t have to vote for him but we don’t have to create a ruckus in the streets.”