[NYTr] Benazir Bhutto Returns Tomorrow to Jubilant Welcome, Threats

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AP via The Guardian - Oct 17, 2007
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7003753,00.html

Loyalists Turn Out to Welcome Bhutto

By MATTHEW PENNINGTON
Associated Press Writer

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) - Legions of supporters of former prime minister
Benazir Bhutto converged on Karachi for her planned homecoming Thursday
from eight years in self-exile and return to the center stage of
Pakistan's volatile politics.

Brushing off fears of an attack by Islamic militants, she vowed
Wednesday to restore democracy and to fight religious extremism. But
there is public skepticism she can turn the bold rhetoric into reality.

``My return heralds for the people of Pakistan the turn of the wheel
from dictatorship to democracy, from exploitation to empowerment, from
violence to peace,'' Bhutto told reporters in Dubai ahead of the flight
home.

Bhutto's arrival was expected to draw 100,000 or more people to the
streets of this southern port city.

The path for her return was paved by negotiations with President Gen.
Pervez Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup and has promised to
give up command of the army if he secures a new term as president. The
talks yielded an amnesty covering the corruption cases that led Bhutto
to leave Pakistan, and could see the archrivals team up in a
U.S.-friendly alliance to fight al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Bhutto, 54, whose two elected governments between 1988 and 1996 were
toppled amid allegations of corruption and mismanagement, is vying for
a third term if her Pakistan People's Party can win parliamentary
elections in January.

She described the situation in Pakistan, with rising militancy and
enduring poverty, as ``very grave.''

``The internal situation is very dangerous and there is tension and
danger on our frontiers. My heart hurts on seeing poor people without
bread, clothing and shelter,'' she said at a news conference in Dubai,
flanked by her husband and two daughters.

In Karachi, where loyalists created a carnival atmosphere with rallies
and raucous music and dance, many people were dubious about promises of
change.

``Let's see what she can do for us,'' said Mohammed Asif, a 27-year-old
student in the dirt-poor district of Lyari, a Bhutto party stronghold.
``She's been prime minister twice but she's done nothing for Lyari.''

Inflation, unemployment and crime are the pressing matters in Lyari,
where residents say doctors are too afraid of robbers to come to work
at the state hospital.

The Pakistan People's Party said thousands of Bhutto supporters had
already arrived in Karachi, a city of 15 million, and many more were
expected overnight.

The party predicted more than 1 million people from across Pakistan
would greet Bhutto. Other observers said 100,000 or so was more likely
- still a far greater turnout than rival politicians could hope to
muster.

Schools were scheduled to be closed Thursday, and police blocked access
roads to the airport as a security precaution.

Some 2,500 paramilitary officers deployed around the airport and 10,000
more were on standby. Some 3,500 police, including seven bomb-clearing
squads, and 5,000 party volunteers guarded Bhutto's route.

Authorities warned of the threat of suicide attacks and roadside
bombings by Islamic militants.

The provincial government appealed to Bhutto to abandon plans for a
snail's pace, 10-mile procession into the city, where she planned to
speak at the tomb of Pakistan's founding father, Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

Officials said the slow trip - even in a shipping container fortified
by bulletproof glass - would leave her vulnerable, and the main threat
was from Taliban and al-Qaida loyalists.

An official in the provincial government, speaking on condition of
anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, cited intelligence
reports that three suicide bombers had been sent to Karachi by
pro-Taliban militant leader Baitullah Mehsud.

``We have informed Ms. Bhutto and her team of the situation and advised
them to cut short the program instead of going for an 18-20 hours-long
procession, as this would be tantamount to inviting trouble,'' said
Sindh province's home secretary, Ghulam Muhammad Mohtarem.

But Bhutto, who shares Musharraf's support of the U.S.-led war on
terrorism, was undeterred.

``I am not afraid of any threat. My father sacrificed his life for the
people and country,'' she said, referring to former prime minister
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who was executed by Pakistan's last military ruler
in 1979.

``I do not believe that any true Muslim will make an attack on me,
because Islam forbids attacks on women and Muslims know that if they
attack a woman they will burn in hell,'' Bhutto said at the Dubai news
conference.

She has recently courted controversy by saying she would cooperate with
the U.S. military in targeting Osama bin Laden, who is believed hiding
in Pakistan's tribal region along the border with Afghanistan.

Billboards proclaiming Bhutto as the country's savior festooned the
route from the airport. ``Pakistan Welcomes Its Hope Back Home,''
proclaimed one, showing a portrait of Bhutto with rays of sunlight
shining from behind her white head scarf.

Bhutto's political future, and the possible alliance with Musharraf,
will depend on her party's showing in the elections.

Musharraf has seen his popularity plunge since a failed attempt to oust
the country's top judge last spring. The deal with Bhutto appears aimed
at boosting his political base as he seeks to extend his rule.

[Associated Press writers Ashraf Khan and Afzal Nadeem in Karachi and
Sadaqat Jan and Zarar Khan in Islamabad contributed to this report.]

                             ***

Reuters - Oct 17, 2007
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSISL324551


Three Pakistani groups plotting attacks on Bhutto-official

KARACHI, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Three groups linked to al Qaeda and
Pakistan's Taliban are plotting suicide attacks against former prime
minister Benazir Bhutto when she returns to Karachi on Thursday to end
eight years of self-exile, an official said.

Bhutto, who is coming home to lead her Pakistan People's Party (PPP)
into a national election due in early January, told a news conference
in Dubai she was aware of the threats against her but would not be
cowed into staying away.

"There are intelligence reports that three different groups have plans
to carry out attacks on Bhutto," Ghulam Mohammad Mohtaram, Home
Secretary of Sindh province, told Reuters on the eve of Bhutto's return.

Some 20,000 government security personnel were being deployed along the
route from Karachi's airport to the site near the tomb of Pakistan's
founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah where Bhutto planned to address a rally,
Mohtaram said.

The official said the suicide attacks were being planned by Pakistani
jihadi groups linked to al Qaeda and a Pakistani Taliban group headed
by Baitullah Mehsud.

Mehsud's fighters are already holding more than 200 Pakistani troops
hostage in Waziristan, a tribal region on the border with Afghanistan,
having captured them in late August.

Bhutto has said that if she was in power she would allow U.S. forces to
strike against al Qaeda targets in Pakistani territory, if her own
forces were unable to carry out an attack.

Huge crowds are expected to turn out to welcome back the leader of
Pakistan's largest opposition party, though many followers are
disillusioned by Bhutto's rapprochement with President Pervez Musharraf.

There are strong expectations that the two liberal-leaning leaders will
forge a post-election power-sharing agreement.

The United States is believed to have quietly encouraged an alliance
between Bhutto and General Musharraf in order to keep nuclear-armed
Pakistan pro-Western and committed to fighting al Qaeda and supporting
NATO's efforts to stabilise Afghanistan.

© Reuters 2006. All rights reserved.