Benazir Bhutto comment on Musharraf giving up uniform

(27 Nov 2007) 1. Former Pakistani Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto leaving Karachi airport departure lounge 2. Bhutto entering news conference 3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Benazir Bhutto, former Pakistani Prime Minister: "Mr Nawaz Sharif and I are very sincere about our commitment to the charter of democracy. I welcome Mr Nawaz Sharif back, I sent him some flowers yesterday, now that he is back in the country. And I believe that if you look at the events in January and what this regime was saying in January and what is happening now then you will agree with me that the process of negotiations that the Pakistan's People's Party engaged in and the politics of the Pakistan's People's Party have paid dividends and that Mr Nawaz Sharif and I are both in Pakistan." 4. Cutaway of journalists 5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Benazir Bhutto, former Pakistani Prime Minister: "General (Pervez) Musharraf will be taking this historic decision to be the first chief of army staff to retire as chief of army staff but it's still too soon to say anything while that point one per cent still remains. So let it happen and then I'll give you my comments. But also as I mentioned more things have to be done, emergency should be lifted, prisoners should be freed, media gag should be lifted." 6. Bhutto leaving news conference STORYLINE: Former Pakistani Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, told a news conference in Karachi on Tuesday that "more things have to be done", following the news that President Pervez Musharraf would step down as chief of the army. "General (Pervez) Musharraf will be taking this historic decision to be the first chief of army staff to retire as chief of army staff but it's still too early to say anything while that point one per cent still remains," Bhutto told reporters in Karachi. "Emergency should be lifted, prisoners should be freed, media gag should be lifted," Bhutto added in reference to those "things" that still had to be done. Meanwhile on Tuesday a grim-faced Musharraf took leave from his fellow generals, a day before quitting as army chief in a move that could ease Pakistan's political crisis. Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf ousted in a 1999 coup, kept up his rhetoric against the general, insisting that he undo steps taken under a state of emergency to prolong his rule. But he softened his threat to boycott crucial elections, saying Musharraf's conversion to a civilian president will make "a lot of difference". Bhutto, who has twice been put under house arrest to stop her leading protests, has joined Sharif in denouncing Musharraf's backsliding on democracy. "Mr. Nawaz Sharif and I are very sincere about our commitment to the charter of democracy," she said during the news conference in Karachi. Musharraf faces increasingly adamant calls from critics at home and abroad to lift the emergency imposed on 3 November and to make good on a long-standing pledge to restore civilian rule. To calm the turmoil, he has released thousands of opponents rounded up under his extraordinary powers and let all but one of Pakistan's independent news channels go back on air. And on Tuesday he took the first visible steps towards hanging up the uniform on which his eight-year domination of this nuclear-armed country of 160 (m) million people has depended. Musharraf is to appear in uniform for the last time on Wednesday as he hands over his command to General Ashfaq Kayani, a former chief of the powerful ISI intelligence service. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...