Opposition leader meeting US senators, says PPP will take part in elex under protest

Описание: (30 Nov 2007) SHOTLIST
1. Pakistan People's Party leader Benazir Bhutto shakes hands with visiting US senator Bob Corker (Republican, Tennessee)
2. Bhutto shaking hands with US delegation members
3. Wide of meeting
4. Bhutto talking to Corker and Republican Congressmen David Dreier (California), Darrell Issa (California), Joe Wilson (S. Carolina)
5. Close of Corker
6. Close of Bhutto
7. Mid shot US delegates and US Ambassador Anne Patterson
8. Wide of meeting
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Benazir Bhutto, leader of opposition Pakistan People's Party:
"We are worried about the elections. We have our reservations, but we are going in under protests and we hope that, as we participate, we can try and improve the situation and General Musharraf has taken the right steps in retiring as Chief of Army Staff and giving a date, both for elections and lifting of the emergency. We think that these steps are important for trying to bring the temperature down, although there is still the need for an independent election commission and measures for a fair election."
10. Cutaway US Ambassador Anne Patterson
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Senator Bob Corker, US delegation member:
"Well, we are encouraged today that the former prime minister will not do that and we know how important it is that her party participate. We hope all parties participate because otherwise it is very difficult to put together a proper coalition and form a government that really works for the people. So we encourage that. We hope that it occurs. Certainly we want to do everything we can to make sure the elections are open, that they are free and that they are impartial."
12. Corker presenting a gift to Bhutto
STORYLINE
Pakistani opposition leaders were divided on Friday on whether to contest parliamentary elections under President Pervez Musharraf, a day after he bowed to international pressure by saying he would end emergency rule ahead of the ballot.
"We're worried about the elections. We have our reservations, but we're going in under protest," former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said in comments made to AP Television.
"We hope that, as we participate, we can try and improve the situation," she said after meeting a visiting US congressional delegation.
But a close aide to Nawaz Sharif, another former Prime Minister who heads a 33-member opposition alliance, said on Friday they will try to win Bhutto's support to boycott the vote unless Musharraf reinstates the Supreme Court's Chief Justice and other top judges he sacked after declaring the emergency on 3 November.
An electoral boycott would represent a serious blow to both Musharraf and the administration of US President George W. Bush, which has pressured him to return Pakistan to democracy after ruling as a military dictator since 1999 when he overthrew Sharif.
Bhutto welcomed a delegation of US congressmen in her home in Islamabad on Friday.
"We're encouraged today that the former prime minister (Bhutto) will not do this (boycott election)," said Senator Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican, after meeting Bhutto.
"We know how important it is that her party participate. We hope all parties participate, otherwise it will be very difficult to put together a proper coalition and form a government that really works for the people."
Bhutto said General Musharraf had "taken the right steps in retiring as Chief of the Army Staff and giving a date, both for elections and the lifting of the emergency.
In response, the general retired from the military on Wednesday and promised on Thursday to lift the emergency rule on 16 December in preparation for the 8 January poll.

Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


#Benazir #Bhutto #Corker
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...