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- WORLD, Page 64World NotesPAKISTANLaying It on The Line
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- Ever since she was dismissed as Prime Minister more than a
- month ago on charges of corruption and general incompetence,
- Benazir Bhutto has waited anxiously to see what legal grenades
- the government would toss at her. Last week she found out. With
- new elections scheduled for late October, the government filed
- charges in four cases, accusing her of misuse of power while
- in office. Insisted the former Prime Minister: "The cases are
- ridiculous."
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- Though the charges do not carry jail terms, she would be
- barred from holding public office for the next seven years if
- found guilty -- which is exactly what her opponents want. The
- most serious charge grows out of a Bhutto government decision
- last year to sell 287 acres of public land in the capital city
- of Islamabad to a London firm, Messers International Guarantee
- Trust Co. The government offered the land for $1 million,
- though its real market value was reputed to have been closer
- to 15 times that amount. The implication is that someone in
- authority stood to benefit handsomely from the transaction.
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