Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto set out on Thursday on a journey home to end eight years of self-exile, under threat of assassination from militants linked to al-Qaeda once she reaches Karachi.
For years Bhutto had promised 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 seized power in a coup in 1999.
General 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.
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.
Bhutto left her residence in Dubai shortly after 7am (3am GMT) to catch an Emirates flight that was due to arrive around 1pm (8am GMT) in Karachi.
”It is an historic journey our leader is making to Pakistan. It will change the destiny of our country,” Javed Yaqoob, a Pakistan People’s Party official in Dubai, told Reuters.
Massive crowds were expected to greet her, and morning traffic in Pakistan’s biggest city was light as many people stayed at home in anticipation of jammed roads and possible violence.
About 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.
”At this moment, I’m not thinking about death,” Bhutto said on Geo Television in an interview on the eve of her departure. ”I’m going back for the people of Pakistan and it is my faith that everything will be all right.”
She added that she did not believe a genuine Muslim would attack a woman.
A few dozen PPP loyalists gathered outside Bhutto’s home, carrying portraits of their leader and bearing placards.
They tied a green and black band containing religious verses to Bhutto’s shoulder before she left, observing a Muslim custom to wish a traveller a safe journey.
Bhutto, wearing a green shalwar kameez (loose-fitting trousers and tunic) and white headscarf, waved to well-wishers as she was driven past in a black Mercedes, seated alongside her two daughters and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari.
Her maid and dog came to the door to see them off.
History steeped in drama
Once back in Karachi, Bhutto’s procession was expected to take several hours edging through crammed roads to a venue close to the tomb of Pakistan’s founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, where a rally has been planned by her party.
The site for her homecoming address befits a woman whose family history is steeped in Pakistan’s torrid past.
Her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan’s first popularly elected prime minister, was overthrown and hanged, while her two brothers were killed in mysterious circumstances, one gunned down in Karachi, the other found dead in a French Riviera hotel.
She first came to power after military dictator Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq, the general who ousted her father, was killed in a plane crash in 1988. Both her governments were brought down amid allegations of corruption and ineptitude.
Yet no other leader has Bhutto’s mass appeal, because of the respect many Pakistanis retain for her father.
Red, black and green flags of Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party festooned streets and billboards displayed giant images of her iconic face beneath her trademark white scarf.
Strangers could have been forgiven for believing she was still in power, rather than the increasingly unpopular Musharraf.
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.
The Supreme Court could still disrupt a rapprochement between Bhutto and Musharraf.
Not only is it 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 October 6.
Musharraf had promised to quit the army and become a civilian leader, meeting another of Bhutto’s conditions, if he was given five more years as president. There is speculation that he could invoke emergency powers or martial law if the court blocks him. – Reuters