Asif Ali Zardari, the husband of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was scheduled to travel to Dubai late yesterday for a reunion with his wife, a party spokesman said.
Zardari was expected to board a plane for Dubai at 10.30pm Pakistan time, he said.
"He is a happy man today because he will be meeting his wife for the first time in more than five years," he said.
Benazir has been living in a self-imposed exile since early 1999 to avoid arrest on alleged corruption in Pakistan, while Zardari has been freed from jail on bail only last month after more than eight years of imprisonment.
Zardari's three children Bilawal, Bakhtawar and Asifa were to accompany their father.
"They have specially come to Karachi to be with him on this big occasion. The family will finally be reunited and mark the New Year celebrations together," he said.
The government's decision to free Zardari and allow him to leave the country has removed a major hurdle in a rapprochement between Benazir and the military establishment.
Pakistan People's Party (PPP) sources, however, say that there was still one major obstacle that has to be crossed for an understanding between the two sides.
"Benazir wants the government to declare that she was no longer a party in a corruption case that is being heard in a Swiss court," a PPP insider said. "But so far the government has not agreed to it."
Benazir and Zardari have been convicted by a Swiss court for accepting commissions for awarding contracts to Swiss pre-inspection firms. The couple has appealed against their conviction.
The Swiss court proceedings are considered the real challenge for Benazir's political future and if the government withdraws the case, it would be of great relief to the couple.
Benazir and Zardari are likely to stay abroad for a couple of years if an understanding is reached between the two sides. But they will be allowed to run in the 2007 general elections, PPP and government sources said.
But senior ruling Pakistan Muslim League leaders were in dark about the negotiations with the PPP and are unhappy about the deal, including the officials in Sindh government, the sources said.
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