Pakistan’s Bhutto Is Kept Isolated, Vows to Contest Her Ouster

With only her three children and her ailing mother at her side, Benazir Bhutto remained under virtual house arrest Tuesday after being dismissed as Pakistan’s prime minister by President Farooq Leghari.

Soldiers with assault rifles patrolled the gates outside Bhutto’s white, two-story home. Her phone lines, which were temporarily cut as a caretaker government was sworn in, were finally restored in the evening.

“I am kept incommunicado and not allowed to meet my party people,” Bhutto told a Pakistani reporter. “I was told that my life is in danger and I am under protective custody.”

She expressed fear for the safety of her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who was taken into custody in the morning. He figures in many of the corruption charges against the dismissed government. She had entrusted him with the newly created position of investments minister.

“Once freed, I will contest this presidential action through all constitutional means,” Bhutto declared. She said she remains in “high spirits” and asked members of her Pakistan People’s Party not to lose faith.

That party is now badly splintered between past and present stalwarts. Leghari was once Bhutto’s political ally, as was Miraj Khalid, the man Leghari named to be acting prime minister until new elections are held.

Those elections have been set for Feb. 3, but many politicians expect them to be postponed until all allegations of corruption are addressed. The charges make up a long list.

In using his presidential powers to dismiss Bhutto, Leghari accused her government of nepotism, corruption, illegal phone tapping, undermining the judicial system and sanctioning police death squads.

Bhutto, 43, well known in the West as the cosmopolitan head of this moderate Islamic nation, has denied all charges. She will most likely turn to the courts to counterattack, asking them to overturn Leghari’s decree.

The presidential power to dismiss a prime minister has now been invoked three times in the past five years as democracy struggles in this country notorious for shameless corruption in high places.

Bhutto’s first term in office was ended by presidential fiat. Her successor, Nawaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League, was similarly ordered to step down. Sharif’s dismissal was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1993, leading to the elections that returned Bhutto to power.

On Tuesday, Sharif hailed Bhutto’s ouster as a “deliverance for the people.” He said Leghari’s action “reflects the wishes of the people.”

Despite the political upheaval, Pakistan went about its normal business. Most noise in the streets came from jubilation.

In Islamabad, the capital, some of Bhutto’s opponents slit the throat of a goat in an Islamic gesture of thanksgiving. In Peshawar, the city was awakened by celebratory gunfire. Rose petals were scattered about the streets.