Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Sher Afgan on Monday confirmed that there had been talks between the Government and PPP leader Benazir Bhutto which failed because some of her demands were not acceptable to President Pervez Musharraf.
In an informal talk with Business Recorder Sher Afghan, who was once a close confidante of and was elected on PPP ticket from Mianwali but later on joined pro-Musharraf PPP Patriot, said that the President had offered to make Amin Fahim as prime minister but Benazir demanded that coveted office for herself, which was refused as cases of corruption here are still pending against her in the courts.
According to the Minister, President Musharraf told Benazir that she should first exonerate herself from the courts and then take part in politics of the country.
Likewise, he said, Nawaz Sharif also cannot come to Pakistan and take part in politics as the sentence given to him by courts has not been reprieved but suspended and whenever he would come to Pakistan he would go to jail to complete his term.
Sher Afgan regretted that conduct of the parliamentarians was taking the country towards presidential form of government. He said that he had requested the PML president Shujaat Hussain to make his younger brother Wajahat Hussain chief whip of the parliamentary party so that there would be no problem of quorum in the House, otherwise rumour mongering would continue.
Afgan claimed that serious differences have arisen within the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), and the six-party alliance could split up any time.
He said that the leader of Opposition Fazalur Rehman and NWFP chief minister Akram Durrani wanted to attend the first meeting of National Security Council but they were prevented by Jamaat-i-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad and JUI leader from Balochistan Hafiz Hussain Ahmad.
He contended that these cracks were quite visible during the motion against the Speaker as Fazalur Rehman and 36 other members of opposition parties were missing from the House and they did not support their parties.
He said that Parliament would complete its 5-year term and the next general elections would be held in September 2007.
He said that National Assembly would complete its 130 days' sittings in a year under the constitution and it would be prorogued on Tuesday, while the Senate would meet on Wednesday to take up the bills adopted by National Assembly in its current session.