A concerted effort is being made by the Bush administration to persuade Pakistan People's Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Zardari to meet President Pervez Musharraf and develop a working relationship with him, but the former has rejected the pressure saying he would meet Musharraf only to ask him to resign, said a news report. “Many well-wishers have suggested me to meet Musharraf in person and discuss the political problems in detail to find some solution,” Zardari said according to the report appearing in the leading English language daily The News. He was reluctant to explain the agenda of his proposed meeting with Musharraf but said: “I am hopeful that its outcome will not disappoint the people of Pakistan.” The report said that these well-wishers have been emissaries of the US followed by three top US senators currently visiting Pakistan and meeting everyone who matters. The panic button in the Bush administration was pressed when Zardari criticized Musharraf as ‘a relic of the past'. Two important US senators met him. These US senators besides some other officials have been pressing Zardari to stop attacking Musharraf and meet him to reach some understanding on a working relationship. But at least two senators, Carl Levin and Bob Casey, were told by the PPP leader in so many words that Musharraf was no longer part of the solution, rather he was the problem. The US messages in the last couple of days have been focusing on Zardari saying his party should not humiliate Musharraf by impeaching him, as the PPP leader has threatened. But Zardari has taken the position that Musharraf had been totally rejected by the majority of voters in the February 18 polls and the Bush administration should respect the people's verdict. Until a few days ago, Zardari had been working hard to take Musharraf along in the name of national reconciliation. But he faced a lot of criticism and his party was dubbed as Musharraf's ‘A' team, rather than his ‘B' team. Zardari finally opened up against Musharraf saying if he did not resign he may be impeached. The report said Zardari has not only rejected the US pressure, but has also requested the Bush administration to delay the proposed visit of the US Under-Secretary of State John Negroponte to Pakistan this week. Negroponte visited Pakistan in the last week of March, and Zardari was of the view that another visit may convey a wrong impression to the people that Negroponte was interfering in Pakistani affairs, and trying to rescue Musharraf. __
