- Title: PAKISTAN: Benazir Bhutto returns to Pakistan after eight years in exile
- Date: 18th October 2007
- Summary: VARIOUS OF PEOPLE DANCING ON ROOFS OF BUSES / CROWD IN STREET
- Embargoed: 2nd November 2007 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Pakistan
- Country: Pakistan
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAB1IOZMOEHYT2NEINKVMKJN6II
- Story Text: Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ended eight years of self-exile on Thursday (October 18), returning to Karachi where more than 200,000 supporters poured onto the streets to welcome her home.
Speaking to Reuters on an Emirates aeroplane that had brought her from Dubai, Bhutto said, "I am very excited about going home. There are three million people I've been told, one and a half at the airport and another one and a half at the perimeter. It just makes me feel that people have so much hope and expectation and that they want change and they've come on their feet to show they want this change. They don't want extremism or terrorism."
Bhutto returned to lead her Pakistan People's Party into national elections meant to return the country to civilian rule. For years Bhutto had vowed to return to Pakistan to end military dictatorship, yet she is coming back as a potential ally for President Pervez Musharraf, the army chief who took power in a 1999 coup.
Before saying goodbye to her two daughters and husband, Asif Ali Zardari, in Dubai, Bhutto described Pakistan as being at a crossroads between democracy and dictatorship.
Musharraf is going through his weakest period, and there is strong speculation he will end up sharing power with Bhutto after national elections due in early January.
Dressed in a green shalwar kameez (loose tunic and trousers), her head covered by a white scarf, Bhutto stood in plain view in the throng at the airport, ignoring police advice to keep behind its bullet proof glass.
Some 20,000 security personnel have been deployed to provide protection against threatened suicide bomb attacks by militants.
Intelligence reports suggested at least three jihadi groups linked to al Qaeda and the Taliban were plotting suicide attacks, according to a provincial official.
Musharraf has already granted an amnesty to protect Bhutto from corruption charges brought by the government of Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister he overthrew and later exiled.
But the Supreme Court is challenging Musharraf's right to bestow an amnesty. It is also hearing challenges to the president's right to have stood for re-election while still army chief in a ballot he won easily on Oct. 6, even though he has promised to be sworn in as a civilian leader.
Referring to recent dealings with Musharraf Bhutto told reporters at the airport that she had made no power-sharing deal with the General.
"Many people have said that my talks with General Musharraf is based on a power-sharing deal. There is no power-sharing deal. My discussions with General Musharraf have been on how to move the country towards civilian leadership and towards a restoration of democracy, towards national reconciliation and while there has been some small progress there's a lot more yet that needs to be done," said Bhutto.
Red, black and green flags of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party festooned streets and billboards displayed giant images of Bhutto's face.
Bhutto's return pleased investors in the Karachi Stock Exchange, whose main index has risen 47 percent this year.
While the rest of Pakistan was transfixed by Bhutto's homecoming, Musharraf spent the morning at his army offices in Rawalpindi, with no official engagements scheduled, an aide said.
The United States is believed to have quietly encouraged their alliance in order to keep nuclear-armed Pakistan pro-Western and committed to fighting al Qaeda and supporting NATO's efforts to stabilise Afghanistan. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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