By DPA
Islamabad : Pakistan’s former prime minister Benazir Bhutto prepared Wednesday to briefly visit Dubai, where she is to stay until the Supreme Court decides on the legitimacy of President Pervez Musharraf’s re-election, her party said.
“Keeping in mind the prevailing political uncertainty in the country, we have advised her to leave the country for at least one week,” a senior leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) said.
Her itinerary was not released, but the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Bhutto would return to hold a public rally Nov 9 in the capital’s adjoining city of Rawalpindi.
However, PPP official spokesman Farhatullah Babar said Bhutto, who was the target of a suicide bombing two weeks ago that killed 140 people, was leaving only to see her family. Her husband and three children live in Dubai.
Twice deposed on graft charges, Bhutto returned to Pakistan Oct 18 after agreeing to a power-sharing arrangement with Musharraf in exchange for her coveted support in his re-election vote this month.
Under the deal, Musharraf granted her amnesty on corruption charges that forced her to stay in self-imposed exile for eight years until Oct 18, when her homecoming was marred by the suicide attack.
The agreement was now in limbo, however, as Musharraf’s eligibility to run in the presidential vote, which he won overwhelmingly, was challenged in the Supreme Court. The court, which suspended implementation of the amnesty granted to Bhutto under a presidential order, was expected to rule on Musharraf’s eligibility Friday.
Many analysts have said the army general, who took over in a bloodless military coup in 1999, might impose authoritarian rule in the country if the court ruling goes against him.