Bhutto, Sharif vow to return to Pakistan soon

Islamabad, May 21: Exiled former Pakistani premiers, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, vowed to return home regardless of President Pervez Musharraf's refusal to let them in the country before a general election due later this year.

''No matter what, I'm going back this year,'' Bhutto told Britain's Daily Telegraph in an interview published yesterday Sharif, who is living in exile in London, said he was also planning to return to Pakistan in the near future, as challenges to General Musharraf's authority are mounting.

''The iron is hot, but after a few weeks or months it will start melting and I will go when it starts melting,'' said Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf ousted in a widely popular military coup in 1999.

Musharraf last week ruled out the possibility of allowing either exiled former prime minister to return to Pakistan to take part in elections expected in December or January.

Speculation has been rife that Musharraf and Bhutto, who lives in self-imposed exile to avoid a raft of corruption cases against her, could overcome mutual distrust to strike some kind of power-sharing deal ahead of the election.

But the chances of that happening have receded following the political violence on May 12 in Karachi, when around 40 people were killed during gun battles between pro-government activists and opposition party workers.

''It is inappropriate to talk of back-channel contacts against the background of the Karachi killings,'' Bhutto said.

Bhutto, who served twice as prime minister in the 1980s and 1990s, said Musharraf should call a round-table meeting with opposition leaders, including her and Sharif to steer the country out of the crisis brought on by Musharraf's attempt to sack Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.

Regarded as an attack on the independence of the judiciary, Musharraf's move sparked country-wide protests by lawyers and the opposition, and the clashes in the southern city of Karachi, were the worst political violence seen in Pakistan in years.

Bhutto warned that Musharraf, an important ally in the US-led war on terrorism, might lose support from foreign allies and his own military unless a brewing political crisis was resolved.

''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.

Musharraf aims to be re-elected by the present national and provincial assemblies in September and October, a month before the assemblies are dissolved for a general election, possibly in December.

Musharraf has not made his intentions clear on whether he will quit his role as army chief, as he is expected to do by the end of this year under the constitution.

Re-election by the current assemblies, and retention of his army role would inevitably raise constitutional challenges.

Many analysts believe this is the reason Musharraf has sought to replace the chief justice with a more compliant judge.

Reuters

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