Agence France Presse

New Delhi, April 1:

Pakistan’s self-exiled former prime minister Benazir Bhutto said today she hoped to

return to the country soon “after the return of democracy”.

Bhutto, who is living in Dubai to avoid graft charges in her home country, said she recently held talks in Saudi Arabia with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 bloodless coup. “We had a fruitful meeting with President Musharraf in Jeddah recently over the issue of restoration of democracy in Pakistan and we hope that process would be speeded up,” Bhutto told reporters on her arrival in Jaipur, the Press Trust of India said.

“I hope I shall be able to return to my country soon after the return of democracy,” said Bhuto, who heads the Pakistan People’s Party. “On our part we are trying our best to find ways as to how to speed up the process of return of democracy in Pakistan,” she said.

However Bhutto ruled out any agitation against Musharraf’s rule. “In the present

international scenario we are not thinking in these terms.”

Bhutto, who governed Pakistan twice between 1988 and 1996, was accompanied by her husband Asif Ali Zardari, who was released from eight years imprisonment

in Pakistan last June on charges of murder and corruption. Musharraf has held the posts of Pakistan president and army chief since seizing power. Pakistan held elections in November 2002 but a quick change in prime ministers since has put question marks over Musharraf’s pledges to restore democracy.

On talks with India, Bhutto said the dialogue would be more meaningful if Islamabad was represented by “elected” leaders. India and Pakistan are engaged in a slow-moving peace process that began in January last year.

Benazir, hubby to visit Chisti’s dargah

JAIPUR: Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari arrived on Friday to undertake a pilgrimage to a Sufi shrine in Ajmer. Bhutto is expected to offer a prayer of thanks at the

dargah of Sufi saint Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti for the release of her husband from prison. “The couple arrived in the morning from Dubai and will leave for Ajmer to offer thanksgiving prayers at the dargah for Zardari’s release,” a senior police official said.

He said the couple would come back to Jaipur and on Saturday were likely to go on a sightseeing tour of the city before returning to Dubai. — HNS