HER father and two brothers were murdered; she has been jailed, twice thrown out of office as prime minister, exiled and left to bring up her three children single-handedly while her husband spent more than eight years in prison.

Yet in 10 days’ time Benazir Bhutto will board a plane at Heathrow to reenter the political fray in Pakistan, after negotiations were concluded last week with President Pervez Musharraf dropping corruption charges against her and promising free and fair elections.

“I’m very excited about going back, overjoyed,” she said in an interview with The Sunday Times. “I truly believe this is the chance to get democracy back in Pakistan.”

It has been an emotional week for Bhutto. Not only is her return finally agreed but she saw her firstborn off to university. She was in Britain to take 19-year-old Bilawal to Oxford, where he will read history at Christ Church, the alma mater of her late father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan’s first elected prime minister.

“It was so moving,” she said. “He looked so small.”

Her arrival in Karachi, planned for October 18, will mark the end of eight years in self-imposed exile, first in a flat in Kensington, then at a pink villa in Dubai.

She admits these were “very difficult” times, particularly after the September 11 terrorist attacks of 2001 turned Musharraf from an international pariah into a man described by President George W Bush as “one of my best friends”.

Bhutto was left to run her party by phone and e-mail, read self-help books and indulge her weakness for ice cream and chocolate.

But the prospect of power has seen her slim down, and when we met she looked glamorous, in royal blue shalwar kamiz, and far younger than her 54 years. Her eyes sparkled once more with the fire that saw her become the first woman prime minister of an Islamic state back in 1988.

“It’s like old times,” she smiled, speaking at a small London townhouse just off the Edg-ware Road belonging to one of her supporters in the Pakistan Peoples party (PPP).

There is one major difference, however. The woman who always stood against dictatorship is going back this time as part of a power-sharing deal that is expected to lead to her becoming prime minister, with Musharraf as a civilian president.

Bhutto bristles at the word “deal”, referring instead to an “understanding for national reconciliation” and pointing out that the amnesty for any act before November 1999 applies to all politicians. “We’ve never bargained on an individual basis,” she insisted.

Musharraf has also pledged to return to civilian status after his reelection as president yesterday in a parliamentary vote.

Other issues remain outstanding, such as the lifting of a ban on becoming prime minister for a third time and the removal of the constitutional amendment that allows the president to dismiss the government.

Many of Bhutto’s supporters are highly uncomfortable with what they see as a betrayal of the principles of the PPP and worry that her focus has seemed more on the dropping of the cases against her than changing the system.

But she defended the deal, arguing that it was the only way to return to democracy without bloodshed.

“These are dangerous times for Pakistan and I feel very pleased we can get a political settlement so that we can have a peaceful transfer from dictatorship to democracy,” she said. “The only alternative would have been street protests and bloodshed.”

Referring to Pakistan’s history, more than half of which has been under military rule, she explained: “We had the dictatorship of Ayub [Muhammad Ayub Khan] which only ended with a takeover by another military ruler.

“The last dictatorship, that of General Zia [ul-Haq], ended after a plane crash. One should not wait for planes to fall out of the sky for dictators to die. One should try to move forward. So if there can be a peaceful negotiated transfer, I think that’s much better for Pakistan.”

Can the general and the lady really trust one another?

On seizing power in October 1999, overthrowing her rival Nawaz Sharif, Musharraf blamed Bhutto more than anyone for Pakistan’s problems. “She had the brains and the opportunity,” he said, swearing that he would never let her return to power.

But by the end of last year, worried by the worsening situation in Pakistan and fed up with years in the political wilderness, Bhutto responded to entreaties from the Foreign Office and the American State Department to open negotiations with Musharraf.

Since the Bhutto-Musharraf talks began, the balance of power between them has shifted dramatically. The president’s attempts to remove the chief justice in March led to nationwide protests by lawyers, and he now needs Bhutto more than she needs him.

“Musharraf is on his knees,” said one of her closest advisers.

As recently as last Wednesday the talks were at a stalemate. But after some hard bargaining they finally reached an agreement on Thursday whereby the cases against Bhutto would be dropped and her safe return guaranteed.

Musharraf has apparently also agreed an interim government to oversee parliamentary elections that must be held by January.

In return, Bhutto’s MPs did not walk out of parliament during Musharraf’s reelection yesterday, instead abstaining from voting.

Bhutto denies that by remaining they legitimised the election. “If we had voted for a uniformed president we would be legitimising it. But we refused to vote for a military president and General Musharraf understands that.”

Bhutto does not deny American involvement in the deal, and admits she held a series of meetings with Richard Boucher, the US assistant secretary of state.

“I know some people are saying this is an American plan, but my agenda has always been a Pakistan agenda,” she said.

“Since 1977 the US has supported military dictatorship, first General Zia, then Musharraf, so it’s a very welcome development that the US is calling out for democracy and the holding of free and fair elections.”

Washington and Whitehall have become increasingly worried about instability in Pakistan and the continued use of the country as a haven both by the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Bhutto has convinced them that she will fight terrorism more effectively.

“You need to involve the people in any battles,” she said. “So far the war on terror has been seen as America’s war, when in fact it’s our own war.”

While Bhutto hopes to become prime minister for a third time, her husband, widely regarded as a political liability, will stay in Dubai looking after their two daughters.

Bhutto knows that she may not get the crowds she saw 21 years ago when she returned from Britain and millions lined the route to Lahore.

This time she will land in Karachi, where she will lead a procession from the airport to the mausoleum of Muhammad Ali Jin-nah, the founding father of Pakistan.

A few days later she will go to her home village of Larkana to visit her father’s grave, then tour the country.

Some PPP members have already received envelopes containing warning bullets, but Bhutto has never been short of guts.

“I know there are security risks, people who want to kill me and to scuttle the restoration of democracy,” she said.

“But with my faith in God and trust in the people of Pakistan, I’m sure the party workers will be there and will protect me.”

Musharraf faces court test

General Pervez Musharraf was reelected for a second term as Pakistan’s president yesterday, but his victory was overshadowed by a court case that could yet strip him of power.

The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that while the election could go ahead, the result could not be officially announced until it decided whether Musharraf was eligible to be a candidate.

Under the constitution, military personnel cannot stand until two years after retirement. The verdict will be released on October 17.

The poll was skewed by abstentions that gave Musharraf 99.3% of the vote in the four provincial assemblies, the national assembly and senate. In several assemblies his opponent received no votes.

Musharraf seized power in a 1999 coup against Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister. He was assured of victory after a deal with Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister, and a decision by other opposition parties to boycott the poll.

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