Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister of
Pakistan, speaks at a news conference in London, Sept. 1, 2007.
(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
Benazir Bhutto, exiled former Pakistani prime minister and
chairperson of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), will return to
Pakistan on Oct. 18, her party announced on Friday.
Bhutto will land in southern Pakistan's port city of Karachi,
where she will pay tribute to a mausoleum of the nation's founding
father Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the PPP said at a press conference
telecast live by local TV channels.
Bhutto, leader of PPP, a major opposition party, served twice as
prime minister of Pakistan in the late 1980s and mid-1990s, and
went into a self-imposed exile in 1999 to evade corruption charges
against herself and her family.
General Pervez Musharraf's term as president will expire on Nov.
15, with government officials saying the presidential elections
will be held between Sept. 15 and Oct. 15.
According to Pakistan's constitution, the election to the office
of president shall be held not earlier than 60 days and not later
than 30 days before the expiration of the term of the president in
office.
Chief Election Commissioner Qazi Muhammad Farooq Tuesday said
that schedule for the presidential polls will be announced in a few
days.
Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader
Makdoom Amin Fahim (C) announces the return of Benazir Bhutto, at
the Party Secretariat in Islamabad Sept. 14, 2007. (Xinhua/Reuters
Photo)
Seeking to renew his presidential term, President Musharraf, who
gained power in a 1999 military coup, has been holding talks with
Benazir Bhutto for a possible reported "power-sharing" formula.
But no deal has been finalized yet, according to public
statements from both sides.
Bhutto is reportedly asking Musharraf to cancel the accusations
against her, remove the legal bar for the former prime minister to
go for a third term, and shift power of dissolving assemblies from
president to prime minister. Bhutto also reportedly demanded
Musharraf to quit post of army chief, the country's top military
leader.
In return, PPP, a national party with alleged high popularity in
Pakistan, will offer cooperation to Musharraf during his efforts to
get re-elected as president, earlier reports say.
Bhutto has been vowing to lead her party's campaign during the
coming parliamentary elections, which will be held by January 2008,
within three months following the expiry of current assemblies'
term in mid-October this year.
Activists of the Pakistan People's Party
light lamps to celebrate after the announcement of the return date
of Benazir Bhutto in Lahore. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)
Upon this report's releasing, there has been no formal response
from the government as to Bhutto's announcement.
Musharraf is facing surging pressure from opposition groups
while contesting for another five-year term, especially since a
March attempt to fire the chief justice of the Supreme Court
erupted into nationwide street protests and ended with the judge's
reinstatement in July.
Vowing to end the rule of General Musharraf, Nawaz Sharif,
another exiled former Pakistani leader, was deported to Saudi
Arabia on Sept. 10 after a less than five-hour stay in Islamabad's
airport.
Sharif, leader of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), another major
opposition party, went into a 10-year exile to evade life
imprisonment under an arrangement brokered through Saudi Arabia in
2000, one year after General Pervez Musharraf dismissed his
government.
Sharif and his PML-N party on Tuesday filed a petition in the
Supreme Court against the government for what they called defying
an early order of allowing Sharifs' return by the apex court and
held Musharraf responsible for "subverting" the law.
(Xinhua News Agency September 15, 2007)
