Nawaz Sharif (another former prime minister in exile) has suggested that one should do everything to remove military from politics. And what you may be trying to do will be seen by people as prolonging the military rule rather than getting rid of military altogether.
I know that is what Nawaz Sharif is saying. But I don't agree. And I find it very strange that Sharif talked to Musharraf and got out in the year 2000 which did prolong military rule in my country. I was also offered that if I quit politics for 10 years, all the charges against me would be dropped and my husband would be released. But I refused that offer because I felt that it would prolong the military rule in my country.
And now I am talking because this is about getting the uniform out of the office of the presidency. This is about facilitating the transfer to democracy. And as I said, we are talking, but we are not there yet. So I am really not in a position to tell you today that there really will be an agreement on the facilitative transfer to democracy. But I do know one thing, that a facilitative transfer to democracy is far more preferable than a situation of chaos on the streets that can be taken advantage of by extremist elements.
So as a Pakistani leader, who wants to see the stability and unity of my country and see Pakistan go on the path of moderation, I think it is important for me to explore peaceful political options of a transfer to democracy. I will point out to you that no one believed when the Shah of Iran was facing street riots that it would end up in an ayatollah revolution. But that's what happened. And when the Mensheviks took to the streets in Russia, no one expected the Bolsheviks. So when we have a situation where we have militants who are armed and we have political parties who are unarmed, I would do my best to have a peaceful transfer.
But if that fails, maybe I won't be able to stop the street agitation. And that would be dangerous.
According to some press reports, the agreement that has been reached between you and President Musharraf is that he will be a civilian president who will be in charge of national security and foreign affairs and you will be chief executive. And the ban on you running for prime minister for the third time will be lifted and your family can finally return. Is there any truth in this?
These are certainly some of the issues that are being discussed. Musharraf wants to get elected from the present assembly; he thinks that is legal. We in the PPP believe that it is not legal. So this matter is going to be decided really by the courts and perhaps by public pressure too. But ultimately it is a decision of a legal dispute. The elections are going to be held later this year.
My concern is that those elections should be fair, free and impartial. I believe (along) with the International Crisis Group that military intervention in the country is creating a failed state which poses a danger to Pakistan's own security as well as regional security. So I would like those elections to be fair. And I think any attempt by Musharraf to manipulate those elections will lead to a far bigger internal crisis with far reaching repercussions.
We have not reached an agreement yet because everything the regime says it would do is post-presidential, prime ministerial and parliamentary elections. And my party does not want to be led up the garden path.
So we believe that the cooperation needs to be calibrated so that there are different phases of implementation.
Photograph: Widespread protests against the suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry rattled Musharraf's regime. Chaudhry was later reinstated by the Pakistan supreme court. Photograph: Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images
Also see: 'Pakistan had the bomb by 1989'
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