ISLAMABAD, Oct 18 (KUNA) -- Thousands of political workers and party leaders Thursday thronged to the airport in Pakistan's southern Karachi port city to welcome former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, returning back to the country after ending her voluntary exile of over eight years.
Amid suicide attack threats from Taliban and Al-Qaeda, tight security cover has been given to Karachi, known as a hotbed of sectarian violence, on the occasion.
Massive crowds are expected to welcome Bhutto, which may cause stampedes. There are also threats of possible suicide attacks, Ghulam Muhammad Muhtaram, the Interior Secretary in Sindh told newsmen.
Security was put on red alert and some 20,000 security personnel have been deployed to provide the returning politician protection, he said.
There were reports of an attack on Bhutto's supporters in a village near Karachi that critically wounded three.
About 40,000 Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) workers and leaders have reached Karachi to welcome the party chairperson while more are still arriving from all across the country, party president Mukhdom Amin Faheem told reporters.
However, Benazir talking to newsmen in Dubai said about 100,000 of her supporters have already arrived in Karachi to welcome her and more were coming.
Bhutto, daughter of country's most-revered former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, left the country quietly in April 1999 after her government was dissolved on corruption charges.
This is the second time she is ending her self-exile despite government's repeated requests to postpone it till the Supreme Court decides on the legality of President Musharraf's re-election as the President.
Unlike her first return after termination of her self-exile in 1986, which was in defiance of military dictator General Ziaul Haq, Bhutto is returning home after signing a power-sharing 'reconciliation' deal with the current military head of state General Musharraf.
General Musharraf and Bhutto, both pro-US leaders seeking another term, are going through their weakest support periods.
Musharraf is facing decline in his popularity due to Lal Mosque operation, violence in the bordering tribal region, and the ousting of the country's top judge while Bhutto's popularity is decreasing due to her much-opposed power-sharing deal with Musharraf.
Though Musharraf has been re-elected by the outgoing assemblies, he will not be taking oath until the apex court gives verdict in legal petition challenging his re-election bid.
Meanwhile, Bhutto's first hurdle in a bid to be elected prime minister for a third time will be to consolidate a fragile power-sharing pact with Musharraf, according to which the constitution will be amended to allow for her re-election.
After landing in Karachi later Thursday, Bhutto is scheduled to address a news conference and then lead a caravan to the mausoleum of the founder of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah.
She will later travel to her ancestral village of Naudero, outside the city of Larkana in Sindh province, where her party's political support is concentrated.
