Can Bhutto's Alliance Succeed?

Ties to West, Musharraf counter ex-PM's charisma
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 18, 2007 6:40 PM CDT
Can Bhutto's Alliance Succeed?
Pakistan's former prime minister Benazir Bhutto is rescued from her truck after a bomb explosion in Karachi, Pakistan on Thursday, Oct 18, 2007. Two explosions went off near the vehicle carrying former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto, killing or wounding dozens of people. Party workers and police said...   (Associated Press)

The murderous blasts that rocked Benazir Bhutto's homecoming rally in Karachi today underscored the uncertainty of a successful return for the deposed Pakistani leader, the Christian Science Monitor reports. The Supreme Court offers dual threats: It could nullify Bhutto's amnesty on old corruption charges or void Pervez Musharraf's recent presidential victory, rendering pointless the power-sharing deal Bhutto negotiated with him.

The alliance, if successful, has its own pitfalls: Cozying up to pro-American Musharraf has alienated the middle class that supported Bhutto in the past as a left-of-center candidate. A national survey says Bhutto is less popular than Musharraf nemesis Nawaz Sharif, but her rural origins and lower-class deification of her father may propel her to PM of a coalition government. (More Benazir Bhutto stories.)

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