ISLAMABAD, 29 December 2004 — Authorities issued a passport to Asif Ali Zardari, the husband of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, yesterday and also removed his name from the exit-control list, a list of people barred from traveling abroad, his lawyer said. The move came a day before a court in the southern province of Sindh was scheduled to hear a petition from Zardari, who was freed on bail after eight years in jail last month, against the government’s refusal to issue him a passport.
“Today the government has issued a passport to him and his name is also removed from the exit-control list,” Zardari’s lawyer Farooq Naik told Reuters.
The issuing of the passport will allow Zardari to see his wife for the first time in five years. Benazir, a former prime minister, has lived in self-imposed exile for fear of arrest on corruption charges since 1999.
Zardari was reunited with their three children when they came to Pakistan this week. He said he would go to Dubai to see his wife on New Year’s Eve.
“I don’t know how much time I will spend abroad,” he told private television channel Geo.
Benazir has been dividing her time in exile between Dubai and Britain.
Despite his release from jail, seen as an attempt by military leader President Pervez Musharraf to patch up relations with Benazir’s opposition party, Zardari still faces several criminal charges, including a conspiracy to kill Benazir’s younger brother Murtaza in 1996.
Some analysts see concessions to Zardari as an attempt by Musharraf to mute criticism of his decision to go back on a pledge to give up his dual role of army chief at the end of this month.
On Dec. 21, less than a month after his release from jail, Zardari was re-arrested and held for one night after attempting to travel to Islamabad to attend a pro-Benazir rally.
