Two cheers for Mrs. Benazir Bhutto for talking to the military dictator, General Musharaff about power sharing arrangements. The general is the person who send intruders to Kargil in 1999, which brought infamy to Pakistan; overthrew an elected government of Nawaz Sharif ; murdered the Baloch leader, Akbar Khan Bugti in 2006; dismissed the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in March 2007;, and his natural ally, the terrorist organisation, the MQM , on 12 May killed scores of Sindhis and other Pakistanis in Karachi; and it is demolishing the Sindhi villages. I think late Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto’s soul will be smiling over his illustrious daughters’ pragmatism. Good luck to her and her supporters.

Mehtab Ali Shah, Sindh University, Jasmshoro, Sindh, Pakistan

Pakistan society in last 8 years has become violent and polarized like never before. It is divided between the haves (who govern) and the have nots (who send their kids to madressas). The military articulated policies beneficial to itself, as Aisha Sidiqqa argues in her book Pakistan, Inc., plus the corrupt that live isolated lives, disconnected from rest of Pakistan.

Those policies have now come home to roost as the dispossessed, disenfranchised will fight for their rights. Compared to 2002 in Musharraf's Pakistan 20 million voters disappeared from electoral registers in 2007? Guess how?

Military is now viewed as an occupation force and after the Red Mosque carnage people want his blood. You should be asking can he physically survive, leaving politics aside. That realization has sent Musharraf in search of allies he considered his enemies. Ghosts of past dictators fate must be disturbing.

Khurshid Zaman, St. Petersburg, Florida

That means Benazir will come back all the more emboldened for extra corruption and mismanagement. She must come, face the courts, acquit herself, contest elections, win it and by all means serve Pakistan, not rule. Is she prepared at least this time to serve the people of Pakistan and not loot? Can people forget the mismanagement, lawlessness and corruption she gave Pakistan? Now thanks to Pervez Musharraf the media is free so is the judiciary. Can she tolerate it? No doubt Pervez is a military man but he has done a lot of good for Pakistan. Let us give the devil his due.

Esbee, Karachi,

Unfortunately Bhutto is a divider not the one to unite Pakistan, her coming into power will be death toll for Pakistan. The problem with her party is that only 30 percent of people are with her that too mostly Shias. The rest of the country hate her and her party. The only solution is a fair and immediate election under the reinstated Chief Justice. If Musaraf has any sense he may get re elected.

Kamil Mian, Manchester, UK

Politics is a dirty game. Both Musharraf and Benazir want power, and they will do anything to achieve their objectives.
All along the years the general has been saying how corrupt, she has been the cases are still pending against her and now suddenly the same general, Musharraf is ready to wipe the slate clean of all charges pending against her. On the other hand, Benazir supposed to be fighting for democracy. They are both hypocrites, and they are both desperate, one to retain power, and the other to get into power.
For the country, it will be best that the government of the North West Frontier, resignes . Because without all the promises Musharraf cannot be elected. But the question is will the North West Frontier province's government do the right thing and resign. I wonder.

Akram Malik, Gympie, Australia/Queensland

I think Musharraf should leave his post with respect and honor. and he also has to work as consultant for pakistan for foreign affairs of pakistan.

fahad, karachi, pakistan

I think its time for Musharraf to go home and let the politicians run Pakistan. The politician should be able to deal with pressure from America as well as religious extremists at the same time, thus saving Pakistan. It must be realized that Musharaf himself is the magnet for extremism and violence in Pakistan, he must be sidelined now for Pakistan to get back to normalacy.

Hassan, London,

If the west is so worried about the anarchy in Pakistan, can you imagine the state of mind we Indians are in ? After all, the UK has the luxury of watching from a distance while Pakistan implodes into extremist chaos, which is of its own making. But we Indians are unfortunately tied to Pakistan by geography; the mayhem there is bound to have repercussions on us. This is especially worrying since we Indians want peace and stability in our region, as this is the best way to assure foreign capital investment in our economy. Volatility in our neighbourhood will understandably make potential investors wary.

Sandeep, Birmingham, UK

Where is the democratic method that Musharraf espoused or claimed Pakistan would follow? Where are the free elections to be held so that the people can decide. It sounds like the same old names to lead Pakistan. What a shame.

Ijaz Chaudhry, Philadelphia, PA. USA

An alliance between the general and Ms. Bhutto in itself cannot provide effective check to the spread of talibanization which has become quite strong in FATA and is spreading into the settled parts of the North Western Frontier Province and other provinces. What has to be done is restoration of proper relationship between the army and the civil society according to the constitution. The army's right to define the ideology of the state and issues like national security and foreign policy has to be taken away once for all. Unless there is a complete transfer of power from the army to the civil authority rather than merely sharing of power, stability will continue to allude Pakistan and extremism of all kinds will continue to grow. Ironically, at present an alliance between Musharraf and Benazir is lkely to be seriously challenged by the PML(N) and the MMA virtually a creation and protege of Musharraf. This is what comes out of barrack style state craft.

Afzal A. Neseem, Lincoln , Nebraska, U.S.A.

I recently read that after benazir, Musharraf has also patched up with Nawaz Sharif. Although both these deals are not formal or finalised but its not good that once you were calling all these politicians as traitors and corrupt and now you are patching up with them. It's a contradiction in the words and deeds of the current Pakistani leader. The two former prime ministers really did a lot of blunders and put the country at risk by their actions and that is why they were sent home and their governments dismissed. Both got two chances and did their best to mess with the country's affairs and spoil it. Proofs and evidences of their feats were available and shown to the whole world. They are not dependable. I fear that the third time they will be able to do what they were going towards. This country needs stability and the future seems bleak in current situation. If the religious zealots are giving the military leader a tough time, they will be wrecking havoc on the political leaders.

Shiraz Mehmud, Karlskrona,

Sooner or later, Pakistan will be taken over by Islamic extremists. It will be interesting to see whether they then decide to use the country to launch terror attacks on the West or to start a conflict with India over Kashmir. One thing that is depressingly certain for the rest of us is that they will hugely prefer war (with whoever they feel it is worth attacking) to peace.

neil glass, london, uk

This is the most sensible deal Musharraf could do. After reinstating the chief justice, he had to let go of Shaukat Aziz (Shaukat was the one who provided the alleged case reference against Chief Justice - as revenge for the Pakistan Steel privatisation court ruling). By bringing in Benazir to replace Shaukat, he will be able to sideline the Mullahs and stay in power.
The main downside is that without Shaukat the economy and finances will really suffer - lets hope this time Benazir focuses on economy and keeps her husband away from the finances.

Navid Chamdia, Doha, Qatar

The Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry is reported to have stated that the Supreme Court will not allow any one to take unconstitutional steps. This is very significant and a ray of hope for the majority of people who are utterly disillusioned by back door deals.

Watch out Musharraf, Iftikhar is around.

B.A. Solangi, Ilford, UK

This is good news if they pull it off, but seriously though i would love to hear Pakistani opinions as to what will stop the violence and take the heat out of the debate.
it seems to me that the radical islamic groups want violence as it enrages all sides and gets them more support. So how does any pakistani government this one or a future one bring back peace and stability?
The pictures from the red mosque are very scary as it is difficult to see as a westerner how the extremists can be tackled.

Richard London, London, UK

It is high time for Pakistani's to decide on which path they want to go. In my opinion the option is clear we have to get rid of religious extremism. This hatred full ideology has no place in the civilized world of 20th century. The alliance of secular forces of Pakistan is the need of time.
In present political scenario where every day people are dying in suicide attack in Pakistan we need a consensus government which should have the moral authority to curb down terrorism be it Musharaf-Benazir alliance or any other formation. We pakistanis want peace in our country under any circumstance

Mudassir Jalal, Karachi, Pakistan

If the negotiations between Musharraf and Bhutto reach fruition this will be step towards quasi- military rule. This will create a 'feel good' factor within the local population who are increasingly frustrated with the ongoing situation.

Raj Bharij, London.,

Musaaruf and aziz proved, nothing wrong with the country, only political parties made our system corrupt. Zia regime corrupted politician, because of Zia legacy all governments, including joniagoo, banazir, nawaz sharif. Could not functional properly.
Every leader tries there best to do some thing for Pakistan. But some of them don’t have good quality like mussaruf to deliver good government.
Politic is a dirty job, simple example is present Muslim league most present leadership was
Part of zia government, those people was not loyal to nawaz, joniagoo. Those people have no
Politic agenda, no ideology, no manifesto. Only they want be in government what ever mean.
PPP and MQM only two parties in Pakistan have there vote bank, when ever mussarraf will go out of power.
This Q league divides in to fifty parties. Future of Pakistan politic will be same as it was before mussaaruf
Pakistan need mussarraf for next twenty years, only nation wide party is PPP. If benazir
Just run the business of party not the government. This will help to makes our
Politic system stronger and long lasting.

mehboob alam khan, village Maan- dist gujranwala, pakistan

this is a very good step by the general as i would like him to stay sas the president

sulman, london, uk