WHEN Benazir Bhutto flew back to Pakistan just over two weeks ago, ending eight years in exile, she was widely criticised for returning in a deal with a dictator, though she insisted that her “understanding” with General Pervez Musharraf was the only way to avoid bloodshed.

By declaring a state of emergency, Musharraf has not only torn up that deal but once more transformed Bhutto into Pakistan’s main hope for democracy.

Her only option now is to take him head-on as she did Pakistan’s last military dictator, General Zia-ul Haq 20 years ago. The two-time former prime minister had been spending the weekend with her family in Dubai when she heard the news yesterday. By jumping straight on a plane back to Karachi, she showed that confrontation with the men in uniform was exactly what she intended.

“People want leadership,” she declared when she was finally allowed off the plane last night. “I came back so I could do this and raise their morale and bring back democracy. The military alone cannot deal with Pakistan’s problems.”

Bhutto was killed by bomb blast

The team from the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command have backed the claim that Benazir Bhutto was not shot

BACKGROUND

• Pakistan in turmoil as ‘martial law’ imposed

• Bhutto escapes as bombers kill 126

• Timeline: Pakistan's period of turmoil

• The man out to oust a President

• Internal crisis gives Pakistan reason for hope

Multimedia

• Pictures: Bhutto returns

Two weeks after narrowly surviving an assassination attempt in which up to 145 people were killed, the 54-year-old mother of three is well aware of the possible cost. Her father was hanged by Pakistan’s last military dictator, her two brothers were murdered and her husband spent eight years in jail on charges that were never proved. She herself has spent much time in prison and under house arrest as well as in exile in London and Dubai.

Bhutto admitted she was shocked by the two bombs that came close to blowing up her bus while she was leading a triumphant return procession through the streets of Karachi on October 18.

Although Pakistan is plagued by almost daily suicide bombs from militants, she pointed her finger at “figures in the establishment”. She was, however, careful not to implicate Musharraf. But many of her leading lieutenants were less sure, believing that he had never had any intention of letting her back into power. “They’ve done this so they can bring in martial law,” said Rehman Malik, her security adviser, after the bombs.

But Bhutto insisted she would not be deterred. “It’s a battle of values – of the intolerant and violent against the tolerant and peaceful,” she said. “We still have a long way to go but we’re not going to let them win.”

Before her return she had justified her deal with the generals by saying: “We have two options – take to the streets to fight Musharraf, which means bloodshed, or work together towards national reconciliation and a transition to democracy. If we can do the latter then I think this shows we have learnt something.”

Perhaps she should have been less trusting. After all, when Musharraf seized power in 1999, he blamed her and Pakistan’s other former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, for the situation the country was in and swore that as long as he was in power they would never be allowed back into politics.

That he should then do a deal letting Bhutto back into Pakistan last month and dropping corruption charges against her, showed how desperate he had become to remain in office in the face of mounting opposition both from Islamic militants and lawyers.

Under this US and UK-brokered agreement, Musharraf would remain as president, though without his army uniform. Free elections would take place in January, with Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s party expected to emerge as the largest force, making her prime minister.

Nobody familiar with Pakistani politics could imagine how the two would work together. Even with backing in Whitehall and Washington, Bhutto, the Oxford-educated democrat, and Musharraf, commander of an army that has run Pakistan for more than half of its 60 years, seemed an impossible alliance.

“It’s a marriage made in hell,” said Akbar Ahmed, professor of Islamic Studies at American University in Washington and former Pakistan high commissioner to London. “They stand for completely opposite things.”

Yesterday Bhutto condemned Musharraf’s actions and vowed to fight. But the violence that she had been so eager to avoid by doing a deal with Musharraf now seems unavoidable.

“The people of Pakistan had been expecting elections as promised by Musharraf so they will be disappointed,” said Wajid Shamsul Hasan a spokesman for Bhutto. “They will definitely come out on the streets and resist. He has opened up another front and this one will be suicidal.”

In her last victory over a military dictator, Bhutto was able to come to power in elections that took place after General Zia’s plane mysteriously crashed. This time will be different, not least because Pakistan has become a much more dangerous place.

“We can’t wait for a plane to drop out of the sky,” she said last month. By returning yesterday she made clear that the time for waiting was over.

Times Recommends

• Peter Moore’s family say they can smile again
• Ambition always comes before a fall
• Putin: Russia needs more weapons to counter US