Benazir , Sharif will return home before elections, say their parties

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Friday rejected President Pervez Musharrafs statement that Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto would not be allowed to return home before next general elections.

Islamabad, May 19 : The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Friday rejected President Pervez Musharraf's statement that Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto would not be allowed to return home before next general elections.

Talking to a private TV channel, PML-N Information Secretary Ahsan Iqbal and PPP senior leader Raza Rabbani were quoted by the Daily Times as saying that both Sharif and Bhutto would return to Pakistan as soon as the election schedule is announced.

"They don't need Musharraf's permission to return home because they are Pakistani citizens and they have every right to return home," they said.

Bhutto's spokesman Farhatullah Babar also said the PPP chairwoman would return to Pakistan before elections.

In an interview told the private television Aaj, Musharraf had said that both Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, who are currently in self-exile, would not to be allowed to return to the country before the 2007 elections.

"No they (Benazir and Nawaz) cannot return before elections," the president said in an interview with private television Aaj.

He, however, added that the matter of their return might be considered after the elections.

ANI