Bhutto rejects Musharraf request to delay return

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 11 (AFP): Former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto will return from exile as planned next week, despite a call by President Pervez Musharraf for her to delay her homecoming, her party said Thursday.
Musharraf said in an interview Wednesday that Bhutto should wait until the Supreme Court rules on the legality of his landslide victory in Saturday's controversial presidential election.
"Benazir Bhutto will return on time. There is no change in her schedule," Farhatullah Babar, the spokesman for Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, told AFP.
He dismissed reports that Bhutto and her aides would discuss Musharraf's request later Thursday in Dubai, where she has lived for much of the time since leaving Pakistan in 1999 to avoid graft charges.
"The meeting in Dubai is a routine matter," Babar said.
Bhutto, the first female prime minister of an Islamic nation, is set to return on October 18, the day after the court starts hearing challenges against the election.
Musharraf agreed last week to give Bhutto an amnesty on the corruption allegations that drove her into exile, in a prelude to a likely power-sharing deal between the two Western-friendly political leaders.
The US-allied general told a private television station Wednesday night however that she should postpone her flight back home until after the court judgement.
"I would say she should not come before, she should come later," Musharraf told ARYONE.
A court ruling against the general, who grabbed power in a coup in 1999, could push Musharraf over the brink after months of political turmoil and lead to him declaring martial law.
Bhutto's support in parliament would be vital if Musharraf plans any constitutional changes in the event of a court verdict against him.
Analysts however say that the court is likely to approve the vote.