ISLAMABAD, 12 October 2007 — Former Pakistani Premier Benazir Bhutto’s party rejected a call from President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to delay her return from exile, insisting yesterday she would land in Pakistan as planned next week to campaign for January elections.
Benazir, who went into self-imposed exile in 1999 to escape corruption charges, plans a grand homecoming on Oct. 18.
Speaking to Arab News Sen. Babar Awan of the Pakistan People’s Party said the PPP chairperson will return according to the schedule approved by the Central Executive Committee of the party.
Top PPP leaders including Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Navid Qamar, Sherry Rehman, Syed Khurshid Shah, Syed Qaim Ali Shah and Raja Pervez Ashraf have proceeded to Dubai to consult Benazir concerning her homecoming.
Benazir will arrive on Oct. 18 by Emirates Airlines from London. Media men and representatives of various international NGOs will accompany her.
After months of power-sharing talks, Pakistan’s military leader last week enacted an amnesty quashing cases against her and other politicians.
But on Wednesday, Musharraf urged Benazir to postpone her return until after the Supreme Court rules on his own eligibility for a new five-year presidential term. The court is due to resume hearings on Oct. 17, a day before Benazir is scheduled to land in Karachi.
“I would say she should not come before” the court verdict, Musharraf said in an interview with Pakistan’s ARY news channel. “She should come later, after the 18th (of October),” he said.
Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for Benazir’s Pakistan People’s Party, said the two-time prime minister was sticking to her plans.
He denied a report in the Dawn daily that Benazir would discuss a possible delay with senior aides. He confirmed that a meeting was taking place in Dubai but said a postponement was not on the agenda.
Lawyer Farooq Naek yesterday sought the withdrawal of corruption cases pending against Benazir and her husband Asif Ali Zardari under a law enacted last week, state-run news agency the Associated Press of Pakistan reported. The Accountability Court will consider the application today, the agency said.
Local TV channels, meanwhile, reported the Supreme Court would consider an opposition challenge today to the law, claiming it was discriminatory and unconstitutional.
Musharraf swept a presidential election last weekend, but faces at least a week or so of political limbo until the court decides whether he can take up office. If the court rules in his favor, he has promised to relinquish his command of the army.
Adding to the current political uncertainty, the party of another exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif threatened yesterday to boycott the parliamentary vote, claiming the current election commissioner was biased toward the government.
“These elections under Gen. Pervez Musharraf cannot be free and fair,” Raja Zafarul Haq, chairman of Sharif’s Pakistan’s Muslim League-N party, said. “A new chief election commissioner should be appointed with the consultation of the opposition parties.”
American Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W. Patterson said here yesterday the United States will closely monitor general elections in Pakistan, .
She said the United States would sponsor an election-monitoring program as part of the international community’s desire to assist Pakistan in holding free, fair and transparent elections in the country.
The US government signed an agreement with International Republican Institute and the Asia Foundation for the deployment of international observers in Pakistan’s four provinces to conduct a pre-election assessment and to monitor polls.
