Thousands flock to Karachi to await the return of Benazir Bhutto

Hundreds of thousands of supporters are gathering in the port city of Karachi to greet the former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, when she returns to Pakistan tomorrow, after eight years of self-imposed exile.A massive security operation is in place to protect her, after death threats from pro-Taleban Islamic militants who were outraged at Ms Bhutto’s pledge to help America to find Osama bin Laden, the fugitive al-Qaeda leader. Roads leading to the airport were sealed with shipping containers and bomb-disposal teams combed the area amid fears of attack by suicide bombers or a roadside bomb.The Government has deployed 3,500 soldiers and as many as 8,000 policemen are on duty to protect her route from the airport to a rally near the tomb of Pakistan’s founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah tomorrow. A shipping container strengthened with bullet-proof glass was being prepared to take her through Karachi. Party activists predicted that a million people would turn out to welcome her home.Ms Bhutto has claimed that some pro-jihadist retired Pakistani military officers were plotting her assassination, but said that death threats could not deter her. “Any assassin targeting a Muslim woman would burn in hell,” she declared at a press conference in Dubai on the eve of her departure. She has rejected repeated appeals by President Musharraf to delay her arrival until after a ruling by the Supreme Court on his eligibility to run for another five-year term. She said it was not possible for her to change her plan. “All the people in Pakistan who love democracy and believe in fundamental human rights are waiting for me,” she said.
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As in the days of Noah....