Former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto has decided to apply for anticipatory bail apprehending her arrest on arrival here on October 18.

Bhutto, who went into self-exile in 1998, was sentenced ‘in absentia’ in three cases by accountability courts of Rawalpindi and Lahore.

Apprehending that the National Accountability Bureau or any other agency may try to confront her with an arrest warrant, Bhutto intends to move the Sindh High Court for anticipatory bail, the Dawn daily reported.

Appeals pending
Appeals against the sentences are pending before the Lahore High Court.

Meanwhile, Bhutto and her family have been allowed to import three bullet-proof vehicle for travel in Pakistan, Deputy Attorney-General Rizwan A Siddiqui informed the Sindh High Court on Friday. Siddiqui told the bench comprising Chief Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed and Justice Faisal Arab that the ministry had allowed import of three bulletproof Toyota Land Cruisers each for Benazir and her sisters-in-law, Faryal Talpur and Azra Fazal Pechooho.
Faryal is the covering candidate for the party’s presidential candidate Makhdoom Amin Fahim.

Family’s safety

Bhutto had stated in the petition that she feared for her and her family’s safety once she reached Pakistan, ending her self-exile, and need the bullet-proof vehicles but the government was not paying heed to her request.

‘Sharif to return after Eid’

Islamabad, pti: Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was deported on his arrival here last month from exile would make another attempt to return to Pakistan after Eid, a close relative of the deposed leader has said.
Nawaz Sharif would return to the country soon after the Eid-ul-Fitr, Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, nephew of the former Prime Minister, said here.
“The nation would listen a good news soon after Eid-ul-Fitr”, Pakistan’s official newsagency APP quoted Hamza as saying. However he did not reveal the exact date of Sharif’s return.
Sharif was deported to Saudi Arabia on September 10, hours after returning to Pakistan on a flight from London.
Hamza also condemned the way the former Prime Minister and PML-N leader was deported on September 10 saying, Sharif had returned to Pakistan after a favourable Supreme Court verdict.
The Supreme Court has fixed October 17 as the date for the next hearing on the contempt petitions we filed against Sharif’s deportation and the party would finalise its future strategy after that, he said.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court yesterday issued notices to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and several other top officials seeking their explanation on the deportation of former premier Nawaz Sharif to Saudi Arabia in violation of a court order allowing his return.