KARACHI, PAKISTAN, Sept 17, Reuter: The widow of executed former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto returned home from ‘self-imposed exile on Saturday and said the restoration of democracy in Pakistan was a top priority.
Nusrat Bhutto, whose return follows the death in an air crash last month of President ZiaulHaq, welcomed a pledge by acting President Ghulam Ishaq Khan that elections planned for November will be fair.
“The restoration of democracy is the number one issue at the moment,” she told a news conference attended by her daughter, Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.
“Ghulam Ishaq Khan has shown an excellent gesture by announcing that the November 16 elections will be fair,” she added,
Nusrat paid tribute to her daughter, who heads the Pakistan People’s Party, saying she had worked very hard to revive a party which Zia wanted to crush.
Zia was killed in an air crash on August 17 and Benazir said on Friday that Pakistanis wanted to know the full truth about the circumstances of the incident.
Zulfikar, Ali Bhutto was overthrown by Zia in 1977 and hanged in 1979 after being convicted of Conspiracy to murder.
Nusrat left Pakistan in 1982 for treatment for suspected cancer in Europe. She said’ she was feeling. Some weakness but otherwise was fine and not receiving any more treatment.
“I am happy that she (Nusrat) has returned to Pakistan not as my mother but as a Pakistani to help me in the restoration of democracy,” said Benazir,
Article extracted from this publication >> September 23, 1988
