Pakistan's Leaders on Edge As Bhutto's Husband Returns

After flying through the night, Asif Zardari sat tensely in row 19 as his plane nosed towards Lahore. Mr Zardari, the husband of the exiled opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, was expecting trouble.

"I've heard so many stories they will arrest me or divert the flight," he said nervously. "I hope it works out all right."

It did not. Moments later dozens of police officers came into view as the Boeing taxied along the runway. When it stopped, a police commander came aboard and ushered Mr Zardari into a car and away.

Outside the airport the police baton-charged his supporters, who had slipped through a tight security cordon. Thousands more had been detained in the days before. As journalists left the plane they were surrounded by officers who seized their equipment. When it was returned, it was without any recordings.

"We can't explain to you why. These are our orders," said the airport security chief.

The chaos on Saturday highlighted the weakness of democracy in Pakistan, but also hinted at its possible rejuvenation. The return from Dubai of Mr Zardari was seen as a dry run for that of his wife, Ms Bhutto, the scion of Pakistan's most potent political dynasty and the leading electoral threat to President Pervez Musharraf's military-led government.

Since fleeing Pakistan amid a slew of corruption charges in 1999, Ms Bhutto has shuttled between homes in London and Dubai. But her Pakistan People's party remains the most popular, and western diplomats believe she could easily win a free vote.

"Reconciliation" talks with the Musharraf government have been under way since last year. Ms Bhutto wants new elections and the government to drop the sleaze charges. Mr Musharraf wants an electoral pact to help win the presidential poll planned for 2007.

Mr Zardari went to Dubai after being released in December from eight years in jail.

"There is a rapprochement with Mr Musharraf," Ms Bhutto told the Guardian, before her husband began his return trip. President Musharraf also appears to be softening his attitude; after years of threatening to prosecute Ms Bhutto on corruption charges, he told Reuters last week that he was ready to meet her "when the time comes".

But Mr Zardari's reception suggests Gen Musharraf's military-dominated government remains nervous.

As a cabinet minister in the 1990s, Mr Zardari was known as Mr Ten Per Cent. He is still on bail from 15 cases of alleged bribe-taking, murder and drug dealing, and has spent half of his 19-year marriage to Ms Bhutto behind bars.

But the crackdown in Lahore may risk turning Mr Zardari from a Mobutu into a Mandela.

After being briefly detained in Lahore yesterday, he held a press conference at which he offered to negotiate with the government "not for personal gain, but for democracy and human rights".

Ms Bhutto vows to return home within 18 months, even if it means arrest.

"Obviously I have to return for the next general election, irrespective if I have immunity from prosecution or not," she said.

Ms Bhutto, who has ruled her party with a steely grip, said she would not relinquish her leadership to anyone - not even her husband.

"That is not an issue," she said.