Washington/Islamabad: Pakistani Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto is expected to start a march to Lahore on Sunday as part of her latest plan to restore democracy in the country, which the US says it needs in fighting al-Qaeda.
"We do share a common goal, and that is to eradicate Al Qaeda," US President George W Bush said on Saturday as he again called on President Pervez Musharraf to return to the democratic path.
"I vowed to the American people we'd keep the pressure on them (Al Qaeda). I fully understand we need cooperation to do so, and one country that we need cooperation from is Pakistan," he said praising Musharraf for helping the US hunt for Al Qaeda after Sep 1, 20001 terrorist attacks.
"That cooperation has been made easier by the fact that Al Qaeda has tried to kill leaders in Pakistan several times. And so we share a common goal," he said.
Bush, who spoke with Musharraf last Wednesday five days after the crackdown, said he was taking the military president who also wears the twin hat of army chief at his word that elections would be held early next year. He had taken "positive steps" by saying he would hold elections early next year and take off his army uniform.
They had not talked to each other since, "but he knows my position," said Bush. "I take a person for his word until otherwise. I think that's what you have to do. When somebody says this is what they're going to do, then you give them a chance to do it."
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"I can tell you this, that President Musharraf, right after the attacks on September 11, made a decision, and the decision was to stand with the United States against the extremists inside Pakistan.”
Musharraf was due later on Sunday to hold his first news conference since imposing emergency rule on November 3.
Bhutto on the march
Bhutto, a former prime minister and chief of Pakistan People’s Party, has described Pakistan as a "pressure cooker" about to explode.
"Pakistan under dictatorship is a pressure cooker," Bhutto said in an address to diplomats at reception hosted by loyalists at the Senate on Saturday night. "Without a place to vent, the passion of our people for liberty threatens to explode." Police have used batons and teargas to disperse protesters in various parts of the country but there has been no major violence. A party spokesman, Farahatullah Babar, said Bhutto's plans had yet to be finalised but there was a great probability she would travel on Sunday to Lahore.
Bhutto plans to lead a "long march" from Lahore to Islamabad, beginning on Tuesday, to put more pressure on Musharraf to revoke emergency rule, restore the constitution and the sacked judges, quit as army chief, hold elections in January, and release thousands of detainees.
(With IANS and Reuters)
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