Bhutto set to return home to Pakistan

By foot, bus and bicycle, thousands of fervent followers of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto converged Wednesday, preparing to welcome her home today from eight years of self-imposed exile.

Bhutto’s expected return to this sprawling, chaotic port city that is her birthplace adds a complex new dimension to President Pervez Musharraf’s months-long struggle to retain power. She and the general have reached agreement on some elements of a power-sharing alliance, but deep mistrust persists on both sides.

As preparations for Bhutto’s homecoming intensified, a panel of Supreme Court judges in Islamabad, the capital, began hearing a legal challenge to Musharraf’s election to a new term this month by Pakistani lawmakers.

If the Oct. 6 vote is declared invalid, it is feared that the Pakistani leader will respond by declaring martial law.

Musharraf had urged Bhutto to stay away until after the court delivers its verdict, which could take days or weeks. She rejected any delay, however, voicing determination to return and lead her party in parliamentary elections that are to take place by early next year.

“My return heralds for the people of Pakistan the turn in the wheel from dictatorship to democracy, from exploitation to empowerment, from violence to peace,” she told journalists in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where she has maintained a home.

At the news conference, Bhutto brushed aside security concerns, though she acknowledged threats against her by Islamic militants and others. “No one can be sure what will happen in Pakistan,” she said.

Thousands of police and paramilitary troops were being deployed in Karachi, the country’s largest city, and bomb squads Wednesday night began sweeping the 10-mile route from the airport to the city center. Bhutto was to travel on a small mobile stage fitted with bulletproof glass.

Party leaders said they expected up to 1 million people to line the procession route, which was festooned with banners and billboards featuring larger-than-life images of the 54-year-old politician in her trademark white scarf. Posters bearing the green, black and red colors of her Pakistan People’s Party fluttered from lampposts and hung from tree branches.

At the party’s headquarters, disheveled followers showed off oozing blisters they said came from making the trek to the city on foot from outlying villages to welcome her.

“I would give my life for her, so to walk for five days was nothing,” said 27-year-old Shahkar Lal Koli.

Despite such displays of devotion, Bhutto’s popularity has been tarnished by her political compromises with the highly unpopular Musharraf, combined with lingering public anger over graft and corruption that twice led to the dismissal of her government.

This month, Musharraf signed into law a bill granting her amnesty against corruption charges. But the measure is under court challenge, and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has hinted it could be rescinded.

After her arrival in Karachi, Bhutto was to travel to her family’s ancestral home of Larkana, deep in the interior of Sindh province.

She has had a mausoleum built there to honor her father, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who was hanged by then-military dictator Gen. Zia ul-Haq in 1979.

The choice of Karachi as the venue for Bhutto’s homecoming raised fears because of the city’s long history of political violence.

More than 45 people were killed in May during clashes between Bhutto supporters and a pro-Musharraf party, the Muttahida Quami Movement. The MQM promised that its followers would not disrupt the homecoming.

“The people will protect her,” said Surendar Valasai, a Pakistan People’s Party activist. “At least, this is what we hope and believe.”

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laura.king@latimes.com