An aide to Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto says she will return to Pakistan from self-imposed exile on October 18th.
The vice president of Ms. Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, told reporters in Islamabad (Friday) that the ex-prime minister will arrive in Karachi.
Her return will follow scheduled presidential elections, set to be held between September 15th and October 15th. Speaking to cable television channel Al-Jazeera, Ms. Bhutto said today that despite the best efforts of her party, talks with President Pervez Musharraf about a possible power-sharing deal have fallen apart. Another exiled former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, was arrested and deported after flying into Islamabad airport earlier this week. Minister of State for Information Tariq Azim says Ms. Bhutto will not be deported if she returns, although she will have to face any outstanding corruption charges.