Bhutto, Sharif vow to return to Pakistan soon
1 hour, 39 minutes ago
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - 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 on Sunday.
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 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 political violence on May 12 in Karachi, when about 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 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 countrywide protests by lawyers and the opposition. The clashes in the southern port city of Karachi were the worst political violence in Pakistan in years.
"THEY WANT TO MALIGN ME"
Musharraf said the judge's case was a purely legal and judicial issue and the opposition was trying to get political mileage by politicizing it.
"They want to harm me and my allies ... They want to malign me," Musharraf said at a rally in the northwestern city of Mansehra on Monday.
"I want you to be aware of this trap. You should support only truth and rightness."
Musharraf suspended Chaudhry on March 9 and ordered a judicial panel to investigate unspecified accusations of misconduct against him.
But the Supreme Court suspended the judicial panel's hearing after Chaudhry challenged its composition and its competence. The Supreme Court is hearing Chaudhry's petition but it is not clear when it will reach a decision.
Musharraf aims to be re-elected by the present national and provincial assemblies in September or October, about a month before they are dissolved for a general election, possibly in December.
Musharraf has not made his intentions clear on whether he will quit as army chief, as he is required to do by the end of this year under the constitution.
Re-election by the sitting assemblies, and the retention of his army post would inevitably raise constitutional challenges.
Many analysts believe that is why Musharraf has sought to replace the independent-minded chief justice with a more compliant judge.