Bhutto to return to Pakistan next month

Bhutto, who left Pakistan eight years ago amid the corruption allegations, is in negotiations with President Gen Pervez Musharraf that could see them share power after elections.

Both are calling for moderates to join forces to defeat Taliban and al Qaida extremists based along the Afghan border.

But they have yet to agree amid signs that Musharraf is reluctant to give up the sweeping powers he seized in a 1999 coup.

Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party said she would fly into Karachi, Pakistan’s biggest city and the capital of her home province of Sindh, on October 18.

“The people of Pakistan will get real democracy” after her return, said party Vice President Makhdoom Amin Fahim, seated in front of a huge portrait of the party leader.

Supporters threw flower petals and firecrackers and chanted “Long Live Benazir! Prime Minister Benazir!” after he made the announcement.

Bhutto was only 35 when she was made prime minister in 1988, the first female leader of a modern Muslim nation. She was elected to a second term in 1993.

Both her governments were dismissed amid corruption allegations, chronic economic problems and alleged differences with Pakistan’s powerful military.

But her secular, liberal-leaning party is well organised and in Bhutto, daughter of an earlier prime minister who clashed with Pakistan’s previous military leader, boasts one of the country’s best-known faces.

Now 56, she has chosen a date for her comeback that avoids a clash with Musharraf’s plan to ask lawmakers for a new five-year mandate. The presidential vote is due by October 15, with parliamentary elections to follow by January.

That allows her to wait and see the outcome of the negotiations with the government and also of legal challenges to Musharraf’s eligibility for another term.

“Whether she is going to be a partner or run for elections along with the other parties, she has to come to Pakistan,” said Talat Masood, a former army general turned political analyst. “She has to come if her party is to do well.”

Party officials urged voters to swarm Karachi airport to give her a rousing welcome when she touches down and said she would embark on a tour of the country.

“We have decided that she (Bhutto) is coming back, talks or no talks,” said Babar Awan, another party leader.

“This is the moment when the Pakistani nation has to redefine itself ... now is the time for struggle.”

However, Fahim said the door for negotiations would remain open until October 18.

Earlier today, a government spokesman said Bhutto would be treated differently from Sharif, whose government was toppled by Musharraf’s coup.

Sharif’s expulsion sidelined Musharraf’s chief political rival while indicating the general’s willingness to take authoritarian steps to extend his rule.

His popularity has plunged this year since he tried to sack the country’s top judge.

He also faces a surge in attacks by Islamic militants.

“Nawaz Sharif’s case was different. He went back to Saudi Arabia because of an undertaking he had with the Saudi government,” spokesman Tariq Azim said.

“She (Bhutto) was always allowed to come back.”

Asked about pending corruption cases against Bhutto, he added: “It’s for the law to take its own course. Everybody has to face cases against them and the same applies to her.”

Azim said the talks with Bhutto were snagged over her desire for the corruption cases to be closed, for a constitutional amendment to let her seek a third term as prime minister, and over the president’s re-election.

Bhutto, who has led her party from Dubai and London, risks a backlash among the public and her party if she strikes an agreement with the military leader that doesn’t see him step down as army chief and hold free and fair elections.

“We welcome her coming back, but let me say that it will be an insult to democracy if she agrees to share power with a man who ousted the elected government of Nawaz Sharif and has caused irreparable damage to democratic institutions,” said Sadiq ul-Farooq, a leader of Sharif’s party.

With less than five weeks before the presidential election, Bhutto’s party says time is running out to reach a deal, though with Sharif out of the way, Musharraf may be in a stronger position to dictate terms.

Azim said the schedule for the presidential vote by lawmakers would be announced in the next three or four days.