Defiant Bhutto vows to stay in power
Defiant Bhutto vows to stay in power
By Alistair Lyon
ISLAMABAD (Reuter): Pakistan's beleaguered Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has vowed to stay in power in the teeth of mounting criticism of her three-year-old administration.
In a defiant speech to parliament on Sunday, Bhutto, 43, rounded on opposition parties and journalists who have accused her of leading a corrupt, inept government now doomed to fall.
"They are writing that the president is not happy, the army is not happy, the IMF is not happy," she thundered. "Has this been written in our constitution that if these powers are not happy the government should go home?"
Bhutto, who won parliamentary elections in October 1993, said her mandate was from the people, not from other powers, and pledged to complete her five-year term.
She said that any bid to dislodge her now would dishonor Pakistan and invite unfavorable comparisons with arch-rival India's democracy in the two countries' 50th anniversary year.
"What message do they want to send to the world?" she asked, vowing to foil those bent on unseating her Pakistan People's Party. "We will celebrate our Golden Jubilee in a befitting way so that none can question the prestige of Pakistan."
Bhutto's grip on power has looked fragile in recent months amid a chorus of voices urging her to curb corruption, revive an ailing economy and stop antagonizing the judiciary -- or resign.
She suffered a cruel personal blow last month when Karachi police killed her estranged brother and political foe Murtaza in circumstances that are now the subject of a judicial inquiry.
President Farooq Leghari, once regarded as a loyal Bhutto ally, upset the prime minister the day after Murtaza's killing by asking the Supreme Court to rule on whether he was obliged to take her advice when appointing senior judges.
A few days later, the president issued an unusual message to parliament, urging the government and opposition to cooperate in forming parliamentary committees to probe official corruption.
Opposition allegations of corruption and influence-peddling have focused on Bhutto's husband Asif Ali Zardari, who was named investment minister in a cabinet expansion in July.
Presenting an anti-corruption bill to parliament on Sunday, Bhutto said she and Zardari should be first in line for scrutiny so that no-one else could complain of discrimination.
Bhutto has also been beset by economic troubles that have forced her to agree to stringent cost-cutting and revenue measures at the behest of the International Monetary Fund.
The government is expected to announce a "mini-budget" before the arrival of an IMF mission on Thursday. The IMF will disburse no more money from a $600 million standby loan until a "comprehensive and credible" package is in place.
Army generals, who have often played kingmaking role in Pakistani politics in the past, have given no public sign of displeasure with Bhutto's performance, but some analysts trace Leghari's new-found assertiveness to military prompting.
Against this grim backdrop, some commentators have advised Bhutto to go of her own accord while she still has the choice.
"If she does not opt for a democratic, smooth, face-saving and politically beneficial exit now, the manner in which she may be forced out could be disastrous in political and possibly in physical terms for her and her family," Shaheen Sehbai, the Washington correspondent of Dawn newspaper, wrote recently.
Bhutto's response has been to dig deep into her sense of destiny as the scion of Pakistan's most powerful, but ill-fated, political dynasty and come up defying unnamed "conspirators".
"They might have thought that Benazir Bhutto would run away or be frightened at Murtaza's murder. But I will not do this. I preferred jails to palaces and my blood is running in this land. They're now targeting me, my spouse and my children to dishearten me. But I fear nothing because I am linked to the people," she told parliament.