Stalled talks on a deal between Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto are expected to resume soon, with the venue moving to Dubai, ministers said yesterday.
Negotiations held in London last week between the two-time prime minister and President Musharraf's top aides ended in deadlock, with Bhutto saying that she would fly back to the crisis-hit Islamic republic regardless of what happens.
despite failure
"Our stand is that dialogue should continue," Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani said, despite the failure so far to thrash out a power-sharing deal between the embattled general and his bitter rival.
He confirmed that Musharraf's top aide was in the Gulf emirate and said that it would "probably" be the venue for further discussions, as reported in several newspapers here.
The talks ran into trouble after the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Party opposed Bhutto's demands that Musharraf should quit as army chief before being re-elected for another five-year term as president.
cede power
Bhutto said he should also cede his powers to dissolve parliament, allow prime ministers to serve a third term and give an amnesty to herself and other politicians covering her two terms in power between 1989 and 1996.
"It is expected that the talks will be resumed," deputy information minister Tariq Azeem said.
Azeem said some of Bhutto's demands were "unrealistic" but would not elaborate, adding only: "If the demands are realistic, there are more chances of reaching an understanding."
`not linked'
Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party confirmed that she would be in Dubai late yesterday. But spokesman Farhatullah Babar said the visit was "not linked to the dialogue."
Bhutto held secret talks with Musharraf in Abu Dhabi in July.
She said on Saturday that she would end her self-imposed exile over corruption charges and announce the date of her return on Sept. 14.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS