Exiled Pakistan opposition pledge election return

BRITAIN: The exiled leaders of Pakistan's main opposition parties pledged to return for 2007 general elections to try to oust the country's military ruler through the ballot box.

Former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif have been in exile for several years and President Pervez Musharraf, who is widely expected to stay in office after the elections, has vowed to block their return to power.

"We want to go back. We are very keen to go back and it is our candid and considered view that the elections cannot be held in a fair and free manner unless and until the two main leaders go back to the country and participate in the election campaign," Sharif told Reuters television.

Bhutto and Sharif were bitter rivals in the 1990s but formed the multi-party Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy after Musharraf seized power in 1999 in a bloodless coup. The two leaders were in London to discuss their election strategy.

In a separate interview, Bhutto told Reuters television that while Musharraf had put many obstacles in their path to prevent their return, she believed there was a chance.

"I am planning to go back to Pakistan for the elections of 2007 and I will be discussing this with Mr Sharif," she said. London, Tuesday, Reuters