KARACHI, 1 December 2005 — Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto will return to Pakistan ahead of general elections due in 2007 to face corruption charges, a spokesman for her party said yesterday.
Benazir, who was premier twice in the 1980s and 1990s, has lived in self-imposed exile in Dubai and London for the past six years because of the money laundering allegations against her.
She often talks of coming home but this is the first time she has agreed to face the charges — prompting speculation that her Pakistan People’s Party may cut a deal with President Pervez Musharraf to come out of opposition. “I will return before the next general elections and I am ready to face the cases. I will contest the elections,” spokesman Farhatullah Babar quoted Benazir as telling the party’s central committee meeting in London on Monday.
“The date of her return will be announced by the central committee,” Babar said.
Party sources said she may return to Pakistan in late 2006, some six months ahead of an expected general election date in early to mid 2007. Pakistan’s Information Minister Sheikh Rashid said that the government had no objection to her return if she was ready to face the cases pending against her.
“There is no bar on her return. There are cases against her and if she has decided to face these cases it’s good, and we have no objection to her return,” Rashid said.
