Dubai: Despite ‘suggestions’ to delay her return, former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on Wednesday vowed to end her eight-year self-imposed exile from Thursday to end "dictatorship" and bring democracy.
Bhutto said her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) will not accept a ‘uniformed President’ and General Pervez Musharraf's undertaking before the Supreme Court to give up the post of Army chief was an ‘achievement’ for the people of the country.
"My return will herald for the people of Pakistan the turn of the wheel from dictatorship to democracy, from exploitation to empowerment and from violence to peace," she said in a press conference.
Bhutto, who is set to reach Karachi on Thursday, said the Government of Pakistan has been "suggesting" to her that she should not return, but "I have to go back as I have given my word to the people of Pakistan."
"In the last eight years, I have never announced a date of return. Now I have announced my intention to return and I will keep my promise," the former premier, flanked by her husband Asif Ali Zardari and her two daughters, said.
Asserting that her party would not accept a ‘uniformed President’ at any cost, she said ‘we want civilian leadership’ as the people of the country seek "democracy" and not ‘dictatorship’.
Referring to the US-backed Orange revolution in Ukraine, Bhutto said her party does not want any such "upheaval" in Pakistan, whose citizens are "extremely repressed" now.
"No power on earth can prevent me from going back to work for their empowerment," she added.
Bhutto said threats had been made from "left, right and centre" by Afghan and Arab militants to prevent her homecoming but she believed any "true Muslim" would not attack her as Islam forbids violence against women and suicide bombings. "I am not intimidated by (these threats)," she said.
"The way to make a change is not through death and violence. We don't have to agree on everything, but we should agree to resolve our differences peacefully," Bhutto said.
The Pakistani leader would be accompanied by more than 150 party leaders, journalists and guests from Europe and the United States, media reports here said.
"We will escort her from her home to the airport in a convoy so as to ensure her safety," he said.
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