Bhutto to remain abroad indefinitely

The former premier, who along with her husband Asif Ali Zardari, was convicted by a Pakistani court last month, can file a fresh appeal till tomorrow, with the Pakistan supreme court returning the one filed in absentia.

However, her decision to remain in the United Kingdom at this point of time indicates she may no longer seek relief from the judiciary and instead choose to display her power through 8220;remote control8221; as Muttahida Qaumi Movement MQM leader Altaf Hussain has been doing since 1992.

8220;Public pressure and struggle were necessary to dislodge theNawaz Sharif government,8221; she told the BBC when most of her home province of Sindh observed a general strike to protest against the alleged excesses committed against Zardari in police custody.

She said it was sad that while the world 8220;is about to enter the 21st century, in Pakistan, police tell an arrested senator Zardari, that he can even be killed in custody.8221;

8220;When I heard about the treatment being given to Mr Zardari at the crime investigation centre in Karachi, I wanted to return to Pakistan but my party colleagues advised me against it,8221; she told the BBC8217;s Urdu service.

Asked why the Western world is not taking note of Mr Zardari8217;s 8220;plight8221; as it has in the case of journalist Najam Sethi, Bhutto said since this case concerns politics and courts, people abroad think 8220;such things are common in Pakistan.8221;

She said as prime minister she did make some mistakes and also some achievements, but claimed she was not fully aware of the cases of corruption and extra-judicial killings, the countson which her government was dismissed in 1996.

Zardari meanwhile is in the Aga Khan hospital in Southern Karachi, where he is being treated for a cut tongue. Photographs of him showing his lacerated tongue were on the front pages of newspapers today.

Police officials say the wound was self-inflicted in an attempt by Zardari to be removed to a hospital. Zardari says it was the result of torture.

The government has denied the charge, but Sharif has ordered a judicial inquiry into the allegations.

Bhutto8217;s lawyers have asked human rights groups to probe his condition.

In a letter to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Bhutto8217;s lawyer, Aitzaz Ahsan, said Zardari8217;s family and colleagues feared for his life, and asked that the organisation launch an investigation.