By Jatin Gandhi (Hindustan Times)

New Delhi: The deal between Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and PPP leader Benazir Bhutto has been brokered by America and this “match fixing” will have serious consequences for Pakistan and the US, said Imran Khan, the chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, on Friday.

The cricketer-turned-politician was speaking at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit on “Does an unsafe sub-continent serve sub-continental politics?”

Khan insisted the US was “backing the wrong horses” in Musharraf, Bhutto and MQM president Altaf Hussain.

He said the US was showcasing them as moderates but, “Musharraf is a dictator, Benazir, liberally corrupt and Altaf has been declared a terrorist by the Canadian Supreme Court”.

Comparing the US role in Pakistan with what it did in Iran under Mohammad Reza Pahelvi, Khan said Washington was repeating its mistakes. “This combination of Musharraf, Benazir and Altaf will be a disaster for the US. They kept backing the Shah of Iran against the pro-democracy movement till the whole of Iran became anti-US. The same thing is happening in Pakistan.”

He said Pakistan was passing through its most defining moment: “The lawyers’ movement has given us great hope. Everyone is rallying behind the movement. If a military dictator manages to reinstate himself, there will be no stability in Pakistan.”

On a question from Salman Khurshid, the former minister of state for external affairs who moderated his session, Khan allayed fears that instability in Pakistan could help fundamentalists lay hands on its nuclear arsenal. “That is utter nonsense. It won’t happen.”

He said Benazir has misread the situation as there is palpable antipathy for Musharraf and a “consensus on democracy in Pakistan across the board”.

Email: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com