Exiled former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto vowed to return to the country for the forthcoming elections, in an interview published yesterday, despite Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf ruling it out.
Pakistan's military ruler insisted on Friday that Bhutto and fellow exiled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif would not be allowed to return ahead of the general election due later this year or early next year.
But Bhutto, who leads the popular Pakistan People's Party, told the British newspaper the Sunday Telegraph: "No matter what, I'm going back this year."
The 53-year-old went into exile in 1998 over corruption cases pending against her and her husband. She faces arrest and possible imprisonment if she returns.
Musharraf, 63, suspended chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on March 9 on misconduct charges, which provoked a wave of deadly protests.
Clashes erupted between rival political activists in the southern city of Karachi, leaving as many as 40 people dead.
Bhutto said Musharraf was running a "dictatorship" that could either end peacefully or in all-out bloodshed.
"It is unlikely that the international community or the armed forces will continue to back the present regime if domestic protests continue to escalate," she said.
"The only option is for General Musharraf and his regime to seek a political solution through a negotiated transfer of power," she said.
Bhutto and Sharif, both mainstream politicians, each ruled Pakistan twice between 1988 and 1999 and have repeatedly said they would defy Musharraf and return home to run in the elections.
The general's statement on Friday on Bhutto and Sharif appeared to be designed to end speculation that he could strike a power-sharing deal with Bhutto to broaden his fragile support base.
Asked if talks had taken place with Musharraf, she said: "It is inappropriate to talk of back-channel contacts against the background of the Karachi killings."
"It's best for the regime to call a round-table conference of all political leaders, including the exiled prime ministers, to evolve a consensus for transparent elections," she said.
"The Orange Revolution in Ukraine is a good example of how people who are robbed of their right to vote can protest and put an end to dictatorship," she said.
Bhutto said Musharraf had allowed "the shadow of extremism" to fall across Pakistan.
"Dictatorships by their nature are unrepresentative, they neglect the social needs of the people," she said. "The political madrassahs exploit the neglect of governance, offering food, clothing, shelter and education to the children of the poor.
"They then brainwash these students and use them as fodder in their grand design to dismantle the state by infiltrating key institutions, establishing terror groups and establishing a parallel state structure," she said.
London-based Sharif, ousted by Musharraf in 1999, said he too intended to return to Pakistan, despite facing corruption charges.
"The iron is hot, but after a few weeks or months it will start melting and I will go when it starts melting," he told the Sunday Telegraph.
"He [Musharraf] can put the handcuffs [on me] if he wants -- he put me in jail for 14 months before," Sharif said.
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