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Govt pushes Swiss case to prosecute Zardari

Corruption case against PPP leader resurrected

The GUARDIAN, London
The battle for power in Pakistan took a fresh twist Wednesday when the government reinvigorated a Swiss corruption case against the opposition leader Asif Zardari on the eve of post-election power sharing talks that threaten President Pervez Musharraf.
Government lawyers urged a court in Geneva to prosecute Zardari - whose Pakistan People's party won the most seats in Monday's election - on 10-year-old charges of stashing $55m in kick-backs in a Swiss bank account.
The move was seen as a pressure tactic against Zardari, the husband of the assassinated Benazir Bhutto, as he prepared to start negotiation^ later today for a coalition government with (he second-placed opposition leader. Nawaz Sharif, who has campaigned to oust Musharraf.
Despite a massive antiMusharraf factor in Pakistan’s general election, the retired army chief rejected calls for his resignation from the presidency', indicating that he would serve out his five-year term of office. His staunch ally, the
US, urged the opposition to work with him.
The Swiss case against Zardari stalled last year after Musharraf struck a "reconciliation" deal with Bhutto under which all corruption charges would be dropped. But since her assassination on December 27, and this week's election victory, all bets appear to be off.
"There has been no ruling in 10 years. Why? The answer is simple -because this is all political," Zardari's lawyer, Saverio Lembo, said.
Musharraf’s political survival could depend on preventing a united opposition front that, with enough votes in the new parliament could impeach him. To do so he may try' to exploit differences between Sharif an'd/ardap. . ,
Sharif wants Musharraf to go and for senior judges who were sacked by the military leader last November to be reinstated. But Zardari's PPP has taken a softer line, keepingopen the possibility of working with Musharraf and remaining ambiguous about the position of the former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who is currently under
house arrest Addressing the media outside his Islamabad home last night, Zardari said both issues would be solved by the next parliament. "Parliament will decide which president it can work with and which president it cannot.’ he said
The negotiations starting today will be complex and possibly slow Under the constitution there is no time limit for forming a government.
On Wednesday the American ambassador, Anne Patterson, held a long meeting with Zardari. Afterwards he denied that she had tried to pressure him to work with Musharraf. I don t think the diplomatic corps works on political lines. They do not give political positions," he said.
। president George Bush, on a trip to Ghana, deemed the elections "fair" and said he hoped the new government would work with the US. "We need Pakistan as an important ally." he said. "We've got interests in helping make sure there's no safe haven from which people can plot and plan attacks against the United States of America and Pakistan.'"