A CONVERSATION WITH BENAZIR BHUTTO

Yes. He's getting back to me by the end of the month. He has to decide. The people who are stopping him are Chaudhry Shujaat [president of the Pakistan Muslim League Q, Pakistan's ruling party]. He is telling Musharraf to go with the enemy -- the religious parties [known as the MMA] -- and we can get you reelected and we don't need the PPP.

I think Chaudhry Shujaat is setting Musharraf up for failure. He's saying, 'Seek election and I will be your cover candidate.' A lot of the people involved in the Afghan jihad are with him. If Musharraf is knocked out by the courts, guess who will be the president? Chaudhry Shujaat. It's under his party that the extremists have spread in power. Musharraf thinks he needs these people but they are planning to depose him. He trusts them because he's been working with them. To us, it's a fight between moderation and extremism.

Do you think Musharraf is a moderate?

He says he is a moderate, but if so, he has to strengthen the moderate forces.

Can you make an alliance with Nawaz Sharif [head of the Pakistan Muslim League N, or Nawaz group]?

If our negotiations with Musharraf fall apart, we can always turn to the other political party. [But] Nawaz Sharif and I had a falling out over the MMA. I think they are the supporters of extremist groups. Nawaz wanted an alliance with them and I did not. As long as he is with them and they are in government, we will go as a third force.

The military tries to say that the alternative [to Musharraf] is the religious parties, which is not the right argument. The third force is the democratic force. Since 2002, the military and the religious parties and Shujaat have been in power. This alliance has ceded territory to the pro-Taliban forces in the tribal areas and ceded ground in our cities to the militants. . . . And they neglected the people: Unemployment has risen. Musharraf has to decide whether to go with the moderate forces and to accept the people's democratic choice.

Unless the United States pressures him, will he go that way?

He says he has an interest, but Chaudhry and those who supported the rise of militancy don't have an interest and are trying to sabotage the understanding.

So will you return to Pakistan?

I'm planning to go back between September and December. I need to be there to strengthen my party and the moderate forces.

Are you worried you will be arrested?