Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Bhutto seeks talks on equal footing, or march proceeds Date: Fri, 20 Nov 92 15:30:30 EST Message-ID: \SE A;WORLD \SS (WS) \HD Bhutto seeks talks on equal footing, or march proceeds \BY Ibrahim Khan \CR REUTERS NEWS AGENCY \DT KARACHI, Pakistan KARACHI, Pakistan - Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, banished from the capital for 30 days, offered yesterday to call off plans for a protest march on parliament if the government held new elections. She was earlier deported by the government from Islamabad after she tried to lead a march on parliament house to demand the removal of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government. It was the first time in Pakistani history that the leader of the opposition had been banned from the capital, she said. Mrs. Bhutto told a news conference in Karachi that she was prepared to hold talks with the government but warned that the political crisis would escalate unless the two sides met on an equal footing. "Talks should be on one point - fresh, free, fair and impartial elections," she said. "Dialogue cannot be held between blackmailers and blackmailed." Mrs. Bhutto vowed to march on parliament from Peshawar, capital of North West Frontier Province, in her struggle to get rid of a government she accuses of corruption and election rigging. But the provincial government banned her from the province for 30 days, saying it was acting in the interests of public order. She said earlier she would not defy the ban on entering Islamabad. Mr. Sharif told a Cabinet meeting that a massive security clampdown on Islamabad and nearby Rawalpindi, the city from which Mrs. Bhutto tried to launch a march Wednesday, should be eased after another day, official sources said. Opposition leaders meeting in Islamabad said they would try to infiltrate the capital rather than confront the thousands of police head on. In Rawalpindi, about 30 opposition demonstrators threw stones at mounted police, who responded with tear gas. Police arrested more than 200 people, including 25 women who unfurled banners protesting the government, for trying to stage demonstrations in Rawalpindi. "The government has used brute force against peaceful and innocent people," Mrs. Bhutto said. "It is the worst kind of state terrorism." Her first stop in internal exile in Karachi was a visit to her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, in a prison hospital. Mr. Zardari, a member of the National Assembly (lower house), was arrested in October 1990 and has been held in jail for two years facing an array of charges ranging from corruption to murder. He has been acquitted of all charges heard so far. He appeared in court for a bail application, which was adjourned until Nov. 29 after President Ghulam Ishaq Khan three days ago rescinded an ordinance granting automatic bail to a prisoner held for two years. In Islamabad, police and paramilitary forces drafted into the capital removed most barbed wire barricades but guarded main routes to parliament house. Mrs. Bhutto was detained with the top leaders of her opposition Pakistan People's Party as she started along the route from Rawalpindi to Islamabad. Hundreds of opposition supporters, including members of the National Assembly, were detained in police sweeps across the country to prevent the march. Opposition spokesman Salman Taseer, arrested after violent demonstrations in Lahore Wednesday, was badly beaten in police custody, a visitor said. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM