[NYTr] Bhutto Refuses Musharraf's Request to Delay Her Return

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AFP via Channel NewsAsia - Oct 11, 2007
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacificview/305080/1/.html

Bhutto rejects Musharraf's request to delay return

ISLAMABAD : Former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto will return from
exile next week to campaign for January elections, despite a call by
President Pervez Musharraf to delay her homecoming, her party said
Thursday.

Musharraf said in an interview on Wednesday that Bhutto should wait
until the Supreme Court rules on the legality of his landslide victory
in Saturday's controversial presidential election.

But Farhatullah Babar, the spokesman for Bhutto's Pakistan People's
Party, told AFP: "Benazir Bhutto will return on time. There is no
change in her schedule."

He dismissed reports that Bhutto and her aides would discuss
Musharraf's request later Thursday in Dubai, where she has lived for
much of the time since leaving Pakistan in 1999 to avoid graft charges.

"The meeting in Dubai is a routine matter," Babar said.

Bhutto, the first female prime minister of an Islamic nation, is set to
land in the southern city of Karachi on October 18, the day after the
court starts hearing challenges against the election.

Musharraf agreed last week to give Bhutto an amnesty on the corruption
allegations that drove her into exile, in a prelude to a likely
power-sharing deal between the two Western-friendly political leaders.

Washington has been quietly pushing for a Musharraf-Bhutto alliance to
tackle Islamic extremists in Pakistan's tribal areas bordering
Afghanistan, where clashes this week left 250 people dead.

The US-allied general told a private television station late Wednesday
however that Bhutto should postpone her flight back home until after
the court judgement.

"I would say she should not come before, she should come later,"
Musharraf told ARYONE.

A court ruling against the general, who grabbed power in a coup in
1999, could push Musharraf over the brink after months of political
turmoil and lead to him declaring martial law.

Bhutto's support in parliament would be vital if Musharraf plans any
constitutional changes in the event of a court verdict against him.

Analysts however say that the court is likely to approve the vote.

Current Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz announced late Wednesday that hotly
anticipated general elections will be held in early January, in a key
step in the nuclear-armed country's move to democracy.

"With the presidential election held successfully, the first phase of
the election process has been completed and now general elections will
be held in a transparent and free manner," he said.

Bhutto, who served as premier from 1988 to 1990 and 1993 to 1996, has
vowed to lead her party to victory in the polls, the first in Pakistan
since 2002.

Musharraf has been embroiled in months of political crisis and has
suffered a severe slump in popularity amid growing pressure for a
return to democracy.

The general had promised to step down as army chief and become a
civilian leader after Saturday's controversial poll conducted by the
national parliament and provincial assemblies, which was boycotted by
most of the opposition. - AFP/ms