ISLAMABAD, May 17: Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif will not to be allowed to return to the country before the general elections, according to President General Pervez Musharraf.

“No. They (Ms Benazir and Mr Sharif) cannot return before elections,” the president said in an interview with a private television channel. The interview will be aired on Friday.

The president said: “There is an increase of extremism and militancy in the country. We have to counter it. We have to face it.”

He said there were Al Qaeda elements in Mir Ali and Waziristan areas and they would be eliminated through intelligence operations.—APP