Pakistan says ex-PM Bhutto won't be deported

Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto can return to Pakistan from exile, but will have to face corruption cases against her, the government said, as her party prepared to announce her arrival date today.

Pakistani newspapers cited unnamed party sources as saying that Bhutto would return in late October.

Bhutto, who is in talks with President Gen. Pervez Musharraf that could see them share power after elections, would not be deported in the manner of another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, a government spokesman said. Sharif was expelled hours after he flew in on Monday.

“Nawaz Sharif’s case was different. He went back to Saudi Arabia because of an undertaking he had with the Saudi government,” deputy information minister Tariq Azim told The Associated Press.

“She (Bhutto) was always allowed to come back.”

Asked about pending corruption cases against Bhutto, he added: “It’s for the law to take its own course. Everybody has to face cases against them and the same applies to her.”

Bhutto’s party said it would announce her return date at simultaneous press conferences at key Pakistan cities at 5pm (1pm Irish time) today.