July 28, 2002	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 17,1423

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ISLAMABAD, July 27: The self-exiled former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto will return home to contest October’s parliamentary elections, her spokesman said on Saturday.

Farhatullah Babar said she would return to lead her Pakistan People’s Party in the polls, despite the threat of jail as well as new laws introduced by President Musharraf which would prevent her ever becoming prime minister again.

“She will certainly contest the general elections and before that she will return,” Babar told newsmen by telephone.

Raza Rabbani, a senior official in Bhutto’s PPP, said she would return to the country after the military government unveils a formal election schedule.

Ms Bhutto, ousted as prime minister in 1996 on charges of corruption and recently sentenced to three years in jail for not appearing in court to face the charges, has been living in self-imposed exile in London and Dubai for the last three years.

“The government charges do not stop her from returning..... she can at best be sent to jail (on return). That’s all,” Babar said.

In a series of recent interviews by email, Ms Bhutto has said she planned to return home to contest the polls and run for the office of prime minister in defiance of a recent presidential decree that disqualifies a person who served two terms as prime minister to run again for the post.

President Musharraf frequently accuses the two former prime ministers, Ms Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, of looting the country and has said they would not be allowed to run in October elections.

PPP and Pakistan Muslim League (N) are now members of the main opposition Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) that has been demanding that Musharraf step down and let a neutral caretaker government oversee the October polls.

PARTY LEADER: Babar said Ms Bhutto is poised to be re-elected unopposed as chairperson of PPP on Sunday as no one from the party had challenged her for the post.—Reuters