Bhutto Pitch for Power Urges Us to See Her As Best Ally Against Terror

Benazir Bhutto, the exiled former leader of Pakistan, yesterday tried to persuade a Democratic-controlled Congress to support her return to power by arguing that she would be a more effective ally against al-Qaida than the country's military leader.

The Bush administration's partnership with the country's president, Pervez Musharraf, in the war on terror was a "strategic miscalculation", Ms Bhutto said.

She told an audience in a Senate committee room that General Musharraf had tried convincing the world that he was the only one standing in the way of an extremist takeover of nuclear armed Pakistan. "It appears to me that military dictatorship has fueled extremism."

Ms Bhutto's pitch to Congress comes during a time of intense political activity in Pakistan ahead of next month's presidential elections in which Gen Musharraf will seek to add to his five years in power.

The country's supreme court is expected to rule today on an opposition legal challenge arguing that the general should be barred from contesting presidential elections while serving as army chief.

Ms Bhutto, 54, has set her sights on parliamentary elections, which could be held early next year. She plans to return from self exile to her home town of Karachi on October 18 to launch her campaign to be the country's prime minister, a post she has held twice before.

Ms Bhutto's greatest rival, Nawaz Sharif, was promptly deported when he tried to return from exile in Saudi Arabia this month, and the Pakistani constitution bars prime ministers from serving more than two terms. But Ms Bhutto, who spent seven months trying to negotiate a return with Gen Musharraf, said yesterday she was in a stronger position than Mr Sharif. She had not been sentenced in any of the corruption charges again her, and as she had not sought refuge in a third country, as did Mr Sharif, did not think she could be "handed over."

In her 20 years as a politician, Ms Bhutto has grown adept at cultivating influence in Washington. But the woman who, as a young Harvard and Oxford graduate, was seen as the embodiment of modernity and democratic aspirations for Pakistan, has fallen into deep disfavor with the Democratic party following her two stints in power that were marred by misrule and corruption charges.

Yesterday's meetings with Joseph Biden, the Democrat who chairs the US Senate committee on foreign relations, was intended to try to salvage Ms Bhutto's reputation in Washington by playing on suspicions that Gen Musharraf has been an unwilling or ineffective ally against a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan and a growing al-Qaida presence along the Pakistani frontier.

In her speech yesterday Ms Bhutto said that Gen Musharraf's rule had compromised the struggle against extremism in the border areas. She took the view that even serving Pakistani army officers now thought it was time to divorce politics from the military.

She claimed she would be able to pacify the tribal regions, which US intelligence officials say have become a haven for both al-Qaida and Taliban extremists.

Ms Bhutto also claimed, without offering evidence, that extremists had been unable to gain a foothold in Pakistan during her relatively brief terms as prime minister. She tried to disassociate herself from AQ Khan, the former head of Pakistan's nuclear program. Mr Khan confessed in 2004 to presiding over a clandestine network that spread nuclear technology from Pakistan to North Korea and Iran.

During her appearance yesterday, Ms Bhutto acknowledged that she could face trial or a jail sentence on her return. But she insisted she would be welcomed by Pakistani people. As for whether she would be able to stay in power if elected, she said: "The third time around and being over 50, I would like to be my own person because even if you do everything you can to try to last a long time you don't really last long."