LONDON, 4 August 2007 — Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto will fly home later this year to contest parliamentary elections despite the risk of arrest, her spokesman in London said yesterday.
“Next month or the following month Ms. Bhutto will be traveling to Pakistan,” spokesman Bashir Riaz said in a telephone interview. Asked if Benazir, 54, was returning permanently from nearly a decade of self-exile, he said: “Yes, that’s what I mean. That’s a big event ... Her plan is very simple and straightforward: just to participate in the elections and lead her party.” Parliamentary elections are expected in December or January and Benazir expects her Pakistan People’s Party, the largest in the opposition, to win.
The two-times prime minister held a secret meeting in Abu Dhabi last week with President Pervez Musharraf, who has faced an upsurge in militant violence since the army stormed Islamabad’s Red Mosque complex, a bastion of pro-Taleban radicals, earlier in July.
Political analysts say the main obstacle to an alliance between the two is that Benazir will not support Musharraf’s re-election as president while he remains chief of army staff. They believe she wants him to step down from that role and be re-elected president by the next Parliament.
Riaz said Benazir, who has for years fought allegations of corruption in Pakistan, was prepared to run the risk of being arrested on her return.
“Now, since it is an important election ... she is risking arrest, but definitely returning,” he said, adding he was not aware of any undertaking by Musharraf to guarantee Benazir would not be detained on arrival.
A decision would be made at the end of August on the date of Benazir’s return and where she would land, Riaz added. He said Benazir was traveling in the United States, where she was not immediately available for comment.
Musharraf pushed through a constitutional change in 2002 barring any person from becoming prime minister for a third time, but Pakistani newspapers have reported that could be rescinded as part of a compromise with Benazir.
