ISLAMABAD, Sept 14: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Friday announced that its leader Benazir Bhutto would return to Pakistan, ending her eight-year self-imposed exile, on October 18, and land in Karachi.

“I want to give a good news to the millions of millions of the people of Pakistan that Benazir will return to Pakistan on October 18,” announced PPP’s senior vice-president Makhdoom Amin Fahim at a crowded news conference amid cheers and slogans from supporters and a barrage of firecrackers.

He was accompanied by spokesman Farhatullah Babar, information secretary Sherry Rehman and other parliamentarians.

Similar news conferences were held simultaneously in eight places, including four provincial capitals, Azad Kashmir and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) where senior office-bearers announced Ms Bhutto’s return plan.

Activists of People’s Students Federation, People’s Youth Organisation and women’s wing of the party chanted slogans of “Wazir-i-Azam Benazir” and “Long Live Benazir” as soon as Mr Fahim announced the return date.

There were reports that workers of the party celebrated the announcement in several cities, including Lahore, Multan and Larkana, the hometown of the Bhutto family by dancing on the streets and distributing sweets.

Ms Bhutto had left the country for the UAE on April 6, 1999, six months before the take over by Gen Pervez Musharraf.

She served as prime minister twice, during 1988-90 and 1993-96, and has been leading her party from abroad by convening party meetings in Dubai and London over the past eight years.

The announcement of Ms Bhutto’s return came three days after the government deported another former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to Saudi Arabia when he attempted to end his seven-year exile.

Mr Fahim said that soon after landing in Karachi, Ms Bhutto would go straight to the mausoleum of Quaid-i-Azam to pay homage to the Father of the Nation.

He said the flight number and the time of Ms Bhutto’s arrival would be announced later.

When asked about the party’s strategy if the government created any hurdle, Mr Fahim said: “We are ready to face any situation and we will handle it appropriately.”

“Benazir Bhutto needs nobody’s green light to come to Pakistan,” said Sherry Rehman when a reporter asked if Ms Bhutto was returning to the country after reaching an understanding with Gen Musharraf.

She said the chairperson, who is facing corruption charges, had gone abroad with the permission of courts and, therefore, it was not appropriate to say that she was an absconder.

The PPP leaders evaded a question regarding Asif Zardari indicating that he might not be accompanying Ms Bhutto.

Talking to DawnNews TV, Benazir said she had decided to land in Karachi to give a message of unity to the people of Pakistan.

She said that military operations were being carried out in Balochistan and tribal areas and the federation was in danger.

“When there is a threat to the federation, I want to give a message of unity by going to the tomb of the Quaid-i-Azam,” she said when asked why had she chosen Karachi for her return.

She said there was a need for re-creating Pakistan of the Quaid-i-Azam.

When asked why she had decided to return after the presidential elections expected by October 15, she said her plan had nothing to do with the presidential elections. In fact, she said, it was yet to be seen as to when the presidential elections would be held.

She said that her party wanted to maintain the sanctity of the holy month of Ramazan and, therefore, she had decided to return soon after Eid.Ms Bhutto said it would be wiser for Gen Musharraf to delay the presidential elections and wait for the next assemblies.

She said that Gen Musharraf’s representatives had last met her on September 4.

According to her, the team was supposed to come back to her in two days and now the ball was in the government’s court.

She said it was up to the government to decide whether it was serious about transition to democracy or there were some other ideas in their minds, like imposition of emergency or martial law.

She said the timing of the elections was not important and it was better to focus on reforms suggested by the party for free and fair polls.

About the interim caretaker set-up for the polls, the PPP chairperson said she had asked Mr Fahim and party’s secretary general Raja Pervez Ashraf to prepare a panel for her to decide the name for a caretaker prime minister.

Ms Bhutto said PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif had brokered a deal with Gen Musharraf and also involved a foreign country in it.

Similarly, she said, the MMA supported the regime in getting the 17th Amendment approved and Imran Khan backed Gen Musharraf during the presidential referendum.

She said it was only the PPP which was confronting Gen Musharraf face to face. She said it was the PPP workers, and not the PML-N’s, who were killed in the struggle against the regime.

PPP secretary general Jahangir Badar and president PPP Punjab Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi addressed similar news conference in Lahore.

Leader of Opposition in the Senate Raza Rabbani and president PPP Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah in Karachi, PPP vice-chairman Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani and MWFP president Rahim Dad Khan in Peshawar, MNA Raja Pervez Ashraf and PPP Azad Kashmir president Chaudhry Abdul Majeed in Muzaffarabad, MNA Nayyar Hussain Bokhari and Syed Jafar Shah in Gilgit and PPP Women’s Wing leader Mehrunisa Afridi in Fata.

Our Quetta Correspondent adds: PPP workers and local leaders gathered at the Sarawan House here on Friday to celebrate the announcement about Benazir Bhutto’s return.

Addressing a joint press conference, former MNA Abida Hussain and the party’s Balochistan chapter president Nawabzada Haji Lashkari Raisani said the PPP would give a safe exit to the military ruler if he accepted demands.

They asserted that Ms Bhutto was concerned over the confrontation between the government and insurgents in Balochistan and the deteriorating situation in Karachi.

They claimed that issues of unemployment, price hike, lawlessness, dire economic conditions and political uncertainty had forced Ms Bhutto to return to the country to lead the masses for restoration of democracy and civilian rule.