As Musharraf’s woes grow, Benazir waits in the wings

As Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf wrestles with swelling public disaffection over his rule, one of his key political rivals, Benazir Bhutto, has embarked on an international campaign to revive her political standing. In recent weeks, Bhutto, 53, a former prime minister and the leader of the Pakistan People’s Party who has lived in exile since 1999, has stepped up her criticism of the Taliban who operate in the remote regions of the country. She has sought to marginalise Islamist political parties from an opposition party alliance that has emerged in anticipation of elections later this year.

Seeking to assure Washington that she would be a staunch ally, she has suggested that as an elected leader, she would be more credible in selling anti-terrorism efforts to the public than Musharraf. But for now at least, it seems unlikely that the Bush administration will heed Bhutto’s argument. The White House remains committed to Musharraf, even though the latest protests against his administration — protests that began ostensibly against his suspension of the chief justice, but have since come to represent growing frustration against military rule.

Analysts in Washington and Islamabad point out that the White House remains skeptical of Bhutto’s capacity, questioning her authority over Pakistan’s military and intelligence services and troubled by charges that she and her husband illegally gained millions of dollars in deals with people who did business with the government when she was in power. “I’m not sure if there’s any amount of charm or orchestration on Benazir’s part that will change this,” Craig Cohen, deputy chief of staff at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said. “Something major would have to happen in Pakistan for the Bush administration to give up on Musharraf.”

How the Democrats in Washington will respond to Musharraf in the coming months is also uncertain. One hint came in early March, when four members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, including its chairman, Joseph R Biden Jr, a presidential candidate, wrote to the General, warning that without the return of the two key opposition leaders, Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, “it will be difficult for the international community to regard the 2007 elections as a true expression of democracy.”