World | Pakistan
Benazir risks arrest, but 'will definitely return'
Former Pakistan 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.
- Reuters
- Published: 23:12 August 3, 2007
- Former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
- Image Credit: Reuters
London: Former Pakistan 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 travelling to Pakistan," spokesman Bashir Riaz said in a telephone interview.
Asked if Bhutto, 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 Bhutto expects her Pakistan People's Party, the largest in the opposition, to win.
The two-time prime minister held a secret meeting 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-Taliban radicals, last month.
Political analysts say the main obstacle to an alliance between the two is that Bhutto 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 Bhutto, 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 Mush-arraf to guarantee Bhutto would not be detained on arrival. A decision would be made at the end of August on the date of Bhutto's return and where she would land, Riaz added.
He said Bhutto was travelling 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barring any person from becoming prime minister for a third time, but Pakistani newspapers have reported that could be rescinded as part of a compromise with Bhutto.
Many analysts believe Musharraf will have trouble holding onto the presidency unless he can reach a deal with her or other opposition elements to get their support.
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