Bhutto cancels Dubai visit, opposes Emergency

Benazir Bhutto has cancelled her visit to Dubai fearing that President Pervez Musharraf might impose emergency.

Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has cancelled her planned visit to Dubai fearing that President Pervez Musharraf might impose a state of emergency in the event of the Supreme Court striking down his re-election in uniform.

Bhutto, who escaped a suicide bomb attack on her return home two weeks ago after spending eight years in self exile and had been preparing to go to Dubai to visit her husband and three children, said her party will oppose any government move to impede the transition to democracy by imposing a state of emergency in Pakistan.

“I had planned to go to Dubai on short visit and return to address public meeting in Rawalpindi on November five. However, following rumours of emergency in the country, I postponed my departure,” Bhutto told a news conference in Karachi after chairing a meeting of her Pakistan People’s Party.

The apex court is expected to give its verdict on petitions challenging Musharraf’s re-election without giving up the post of army chief by Friday.

“.. when these rumours surfaced…I consulted with party officials and decided to stay,” Bhutto said, urging all parties to abide by the court’s decision.

“The Supreme Court’s decision is being awaited by the people. We want the Supreme Court’s decision to be accepted irrespective of whether it is liked by any party. People want democracy and progress.”

Bhutto, who had fled in 1999 fearing arrest on graft charges and returned under a power sharing deal with Musharraf, said, “we have had negotiations for the transition to democracy. But if any steps are taken that take us away from democracy, the PPP will not accept it.”

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“We hope no steps will be taken to impose an emergency or to suspend fundamental rights,” Bhutto said.

Musharraf’s comments that he will decide his future course of action after the court gives its ruling have sparked speculation that he might impose an emergency or martial law in the event of an adverse verdict.

The meeting of PPP’s central executive committee unanimously decided that Bhutto would be the party’s prime ministerial candidate if it won the upcoming general election in January.

Bhutto reiterated her demand for a probe by foreign experts into the October 18 attack on her homecoming rally that killed nearly 140 people. She questioned the government’s assertion that the attack was carried out by two suicide bombers, saying she was not satisfied with the evidence provided by authorities to back this stand.

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She also demanded a revision of the electoral rolls published last week by the Election Commission, saying many voters in Balochistan had been omitted from the list.