ISLAMABAD, 15 September 2007 — Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto will end her self-imposed exile next month. The chief of Pakistan People’s Party will arrive in Karachi on Oct. 18, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, a senior party leader announced here at a press conference.
The government said she would not suffer the fate of Nawaz Sharif, another ex-prime minister swiftly deported when he flew in on Monday, but she would have to face corruption cases pending against her.
Benazir, who left Pakistan eight years ago amid 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 Taleban and Al-Qaeda extremists based along the Afghan border. But they have yet to agree on a deal amid signs that Musharraf is reluctant to give up the sweeping powers he seized in a 1999 coup.
“The people of Pakistan will get real democracy” after her return, said Fahim, seated in front of a huge portrait of the party leader. Supporters threw flower petals and burst firecrackers and chanted “Long Live Benazir! Prime Minister Benazir!”
Benazir was only 35 when she became prime minister in 1988, the first woman leader of a modern Muslim state. She was elected to a second term in 1993. Both her governments were dismissed amid corruption allegations, chronic economic problems and alleged differences with the military.
Earlier yesterday, a government spokesman said Benazir would be treated differently from Sharif, whose government was toppled by Musharraf. “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 (Benazir) was always allowed to come back.”
Asked about pending corruption cases against her, Azim said: “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 Benazir 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.
Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, railways minister and a close ally of Musharraf, said most issues with Benazir, including Musharraf’s army role, had been settled and the sticking point was the ban on a person becoming prime minister for a third time.
In London, Sharif’s brother Shahbaz expressed dismay at the idea of a power-sharing deal. “The struggle for democracy and the rule of law will be deeply hampered by this arrangement between Musharraf and Benazir,” he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp from London.
— Additional input from agencies
