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Bhutto to return to Pak if allowed to contest elections
Islamabad, Aug 24:Pakistan`s former premier Benazir Bhutto said in a television interview aired Saturday she will return to her country if allowed to fight elections there.
Islamabad, Aug 24:Pakistan's former premier Benazir Bhutto said in a television interview aired Saturday she will return to her country if allowed to fight elections there.
A two-time premier of Pakistan, Bhutto is barred from standing for the October 10 poll by a law introduced by military leader President Pervez Musharraf disqualifying any former leader from seeking a third term in office. She faces arrest on her arrival in Pakistan on corruption charges, but she told the a television channel she was prepared to go to jail and would contest the election even as a prisoner.
"I don't mind going to prison as long as I can contest those elections," she said, speaking from her apartment in London.
In an exclusive interview on Monday, Musharraf said if Bhutto went ahead with her plans to return, she would go "straight to jail."
Bhutto, who was dismissed twice as premier in 1990 and 1996 on corruption charges, said she was confident she could "overcome" the bar on her participation in the elections, which she said she could win. She accused Musharraf of being a "tin-pot military dictator" who was "murdering democracy". Asked about the corruption allegations, she said they had been set aside and she had done nothing wrong.
She predicted that if the bar on her candidacy was not lifted, popular pressure within Pakistan would force the authorities to allow her return.
"If I am stopped from contesting, the determination amongst the Pakistani people will be so much more," she said.
She is challenging an "absentee law" introduced last year which makes it compulsory for defendants to appear in court personally and under which she was convicted of "absconding".
A law imposed early August bans absconders from seeking public office. Musharraf on Wednesday enshrined the ban in unilaterally imposed changes to the constitution. Musharraf said on Monday that Bhutto would be immediately arrested if she returned to Pakistan.
Party supporters on Thursday filled nominations for candidacy in two electoral districts in the southern province of Sind. Bureau Report
A two-time premier of Pakistan, Bhutto is barred from standing for the October 10 poll by a law introduced by military leader President Pervez Musharraf disqualifying any former leader from seeking a third term in office. She faces arrest on her arrival in Pakistan on corruption charges, but she told the a television channel she was prepared to go to jail and would contest the election even as a prisoner.
"I don't mind going to prison as long as I can contest those elections," she said, speaking from her apartment in London.
In an exclusive interview on Monday, Musharraf said if Bhutto went ahead with her plans to return, she would go "straight to jail."
Bhutto, who was dismissed twice as premier in 1990 and 1996 on corruption charges, said she was confident she could "overcome" the bar on her participation in the elections, which she said she could win. She accused Musharraf of being a "tin-pot military dictator" who was "murdering democracy". Asked about the corruption allegations, she said they had been set aside and she had done nothing wrong.
She predicted that if the bar on her candidacy was not lifted, popular pressure within Pakistan would force the authorities to allow her return.
"If I am stopped from contesting, the determination amongst the Pakistani people will be so much more," she said.
She is challenging an "absentee law" introduced last year which makes it compulsory for defendants to appear in court personally and under which she was convicted of "absconding".
A law imposed early August bans absconders from seeking public office. Musharraf on Wednesday enshrined the ban in unilaterally imposed changes to the constitution. Musharraf said on Monday that Bhutto would be immediately arrested if she returned to Pakistan.
Party supporters on Thursday filled nominations for candidacy in two electoral districts in the southern province of Sind. Bureau Report