The widower of Pakistani ex-premier Benazir Bhutto says his party will consider challenging President Pervez Musharraf once it musters the numbers needed to oust him. Asif Ali Zardari, the co-chairman of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), in an interview given to the BBC's Urdu language service broadcast late Saturday, said for now the status quo would be maintained. “We neither hate him nor love him. (We) will maintain status quo for the time being and once we have the two-thirds majority we will think about his accountability,” Zardari said, referring to the numbers needed in parliament to seek Musharraf's impeachment. He said that confrontation with US ally Musharraf was being avoided for now in the interests of the nation. “We do not want confrontation because of the country, but it does not mean that we accept him,” he added. Zardari said he would contest a byelection in his wife's native Larkana constituency in June. Asked if he had ambitions to be prime minister, Zardari said that if required, he would be willing to take on the post. “It is not necessary that a party chairman should become prime minister, but if required, I can.” Zardari is the de facto leader of the PPP, which won the most seats in February elections and, along with former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), trounced Musharraf's political backers. __
