Self-exiled former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto will return home in October and contest national elections despite the threat of imprisonment, one of her political advisers said.
Bhutto, who still leads the Pakistan People's Party from exile in London and the United Arab Emirates, fled the country to avoid corruption charges after her second government collapsed in 1996.
"She's going to return from London to Pakistan in October," Bhutto's political adviser Wajid Shamsul Hasan said on Friday.
Hasan said Bhutto would wait until the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which begins in September, before making her return.
It has been widely reported that Bhutto met with Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf in the Gulf emirate of Abu Dhabi last month for secret talks over a power-sharing deal. Hasan refused to comment on the talks.
Both Bhutto and Musharraf have declined to comment on a meeting.
But Bhutto has said her party has long been in talks with the government about restoring civilian rule.
Bhutto, 54, is not frightened about the possibility of arrest should she return, Hasan said, adding, "Politics is a very daring game in our part of the world and she has no fear."
Parliamentary elections are slated for December or January and Bhutto's party, the main opposition, is expected to do well.
Hasan said final plans have not been materialized, but Bhutto's party has been boosted by a string of defections from Musharraf's Pakistan Muslim League movement.
"She's very confident." Hasan said. "She has the support of the people and her party won the most votes in the 2002 elections."
Musharraf is in the weakest position of his political career. He recently attempted, and failed, to oust Supreme Court Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, an independent-minded judge who could rule on expected legal challenges to Musharraf's plans for re-election. He has also been weakened by an escalation in Islamic militancy.
There has been a surge in attacks since an army assault on the pro-Taliban Red Mosque in Islamabad earlier this month killed at least 102 people.
Pakistan watchers say that for Musharraf to stand any chance of retaining office, he must cut a power sharing deal with Bhutto.
She has hinted previously that she may be willing to accept an alliance, but she has also been a sharp critic, calling Musharraf a dictator and insisting he must resign his role as army chief.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
UNSCHEDULED VISIT: ‘It’s a very bulky new neighbor, but it will soon go away,’ said Johan Helberg of the 135m container ship that run aground near his house A man in Norway awoke early on Thursday to discover a huge container ship had run aground a stone’s throw from his fjord-side house — and he had slept through the commotion. For an as-yet unknown reason, the 135m NCL Salten sailed up onto shore just meters from Johan Helberg’s house in a fjord near Trondheim in central Norway. Helberg only discovered the unexpected visitor when a panicked neighbor who had rung his doorbell repeatedly to no avail gave up and called him on the phone. “The doorbell rang at a time of day when I don’t like to open,” Helberg told television
RSS