Anticipatory bail: Court dismisses Bhutto146;s plea

A Pakistani court on Tuesday dismissed former Premier Benazir Bhutto8217;s request to grant her a pre-emptive bail against any arrest ahead of her planned return home from exile next week, her lawyer said.

A government lawyer ruled out the possibility of Bhutto8217;s arrest because President Gen Pervez Musharraf signed an amnesty last week dropping corruption charges against her and others, lawyer Farooq Naik said.

Bhutto fled Pakistan into self-imposed exile in 1999 to avoid arrest in cases over alleged corruption during her two governments in the late 1980s and early 1990s. She plans to return via Karachi on October 18 to contest parliamentary elections due by January.