WaPo : Bhutto to Return to Pakistan Despite Threats

Bhutto to Return to Pakistan Despite Threats

By Griff Witte | Washington Post Foreign Service | October 17, 2007

LONDON, Oct. 17 -- Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto Wednesday vowed to return to Pakistan as scheduled on Thursday, despite threats of assassination and a suggestion from President Pervez Musharraf that she delay her homecoming.

Bhutto's return after eight years of exile comes at a time of immense turmoil in Pakistan, and her presence in the country promises to add yet another layer of uncertainty. Aides predicted that 1 million Pakistanis would be gathered at the airport in the sprawling city of Karachi to welcome her in a reception that is expected to stretch on for days.

"My return heralds for the people of Pakistan the turn of the wheel from dictatorship to democracy," Bhutto said at a news conference in Dubai, where she has spent much of her exile.

But Bhutto's democratic credentials are being questioned by many in Pakistan, who accuse her of undercutting a once burgeoning anti-Musharraf movement by negotiating a deal with the general. Under its terms, Bhutto will not have to face corruption charges that she alleges are politically motivated. In turn, she kept her supporters in the assemblies when Musharraf earlier this month won a new, five-year term. Other opposition groups resigned in protest, decrying the election as a farce.

Bhutto has never lived a day in Pakistan under Musharraf, but as early as January, she could be sharing power with him if she succeeds in her attempt to win back the prime ministership.

That quest begins Thursday with a return that Bhutto hopes will compare favorably to her homecoming in 1986, when approximately 1 million Pakistanis greeted her in the eastern city of Lahore after two years of exile under Gen. Mohammed Zia ul-Haq.

In Karachi, final preparation were under way Wednesday. Supporters were beginning to stream in, and thousands of security personnel had been deployed across the city to guard against possible terrorist attacks. A Taliban leader from the troubled tribal region of South Waziristan, Beitullah Massoud, has threatened that Bhutto's return will be met with suicide bombers.

Bhutto on Wednesday said that she was not afraid, and that anyone who attacks her will "burn in hell."

Bhutto has other concerns, as well. Unlike former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who was deported four hours after his arrival when he returned from exile last month, Bhutto will almost certainly be allowed to enter the country. But Musharraf has urged Bhutto to delay her trip, citing lingering uncertainty over his election win because the Supreme Court is still hearing a challenge to his candidacy.

Bhutto has refused, and local officials in Karachi -- who are allied with Musharraf -- could make her return difficult, even if they don't block it. Local officials have already demanded that Bhutto supporters take down some of the posters that are being plastered across the city.

After Bhutto lands, she is expected to travel in a special vehicle fortified with bullet-proof glass to the tomb of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Pakistan's founder. The 10-mile journey could take a dozen hours or more, depending on the size of the crowds.

In the days after her return, she is expected to travel north to Larkana, her ancestral homeland. She is then due to venture into other parts of Pakistan where her support is not nearly as solid.

The tour is likely to mark the kick-off to campaign season, with parliamentary elections due by mid-January.

Bhutto is considerably more popular than Musharraf, who received a meager 21 percent approval rating in a recent opinion poll. But her dealings with him have damaged her reputation.

Still, for her supporters, Thursday's return will be a long-awaited chance to demonstrate their enthusiasm for a leader who has been at the heart of Pakistani politics for three decades.

"There is a mood for her," said Nisar Khuhro, a provincial leader in Sindh for Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party. "People have had it up to here with this government."

Special correspondent Shahzad Khurram contributed to this report from Karachi.