This shows how desperate Mushrraf is and how much he wants to stay in the power by hook or crook.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22428139-2703,00.html
Bhutto makes secret deal with generals
Bruce Loudon, South Asia correspondent | September 17, 2007
PAKISTAN’s military rulers have assured Benazir Bhutto that she will be allowed an unhindered return from exile amid claims of a secret deal to go soft on corruption cases against her if she behaves.
The former prime minsiter has said she will return to Karachi on October 18. Millions are expected to turn out for her return after almost nine years abroad.
Lawyers for the opposition leader went to the High Court yesterday to seek permission to bring in a bullet-proof vehicle for her use after her return.
On the first day of a month-long period in which the presidential election must be concluded, Pakistan’s Supreme Court is set to rule today on a swag of applications aimed at disqualifying President Pervez Musharraf as a candidate.
General Musharraf met his top advisers over the weekend and sent his chief of staff, Lieutenant General Hamid Javed, to see Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, whose attempted sacking by the Government earlier this year sparked most of General Musharraf’s woes.
It was the first time since the attempted sacking that there had been direct contact between the President and Chief Justice.
The US-allied general’s popularity has slipped in recent months after he tried to sack Justice Chaudhry and following a surge in attacks by Islamic militants, which suggested his policies against extremism had failed.
However, Pakistan’s ruling party assured General Musharraf that he would be elected to a new five-year term in a vote likely to take place in the first week of next month, party officials said yesterday.
Ms Bhutto urged General Musharraf to wait until after parliamentary elections that must be held by mid-January.
The president will be chosen by an electoral college of all national and provincial politicians. General Musharraf, whose term expires on November 15, wants to seek re-election from the current assemblies where he enjoys a majority.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission was reported to have abruptly changed the rules for the presidential election, amending a bar on public servants contesting elections for two years after their retirement. As army chief, General Musharraf is a public servant.
Ms Bhutto, despite her failure to nail down a power-sharing deal with General Musharraf, remains a potential crucial ally.
All the signs last night were that the regime was doing its utmost to facilitate her return and spare her the same fate as deposed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who was bundled out of the country last week and into house arrest in Saudi Arabia.
Ms Bhutto’s return date is two days after the end of the election period. This was seen yesterday as further evidence of a deal to ensure she causes no problems for the Government.
The News reported yesterday that **Ms Bhutto had an understanding with General Musharraf that she would be “an advocate and part of a transition once she is back” and would not “be a problem for powers that be in any way”.
The newspaper said Ms Bhutto’s planned return was a result of this understanding and an undertaking that corruption cases pending against her and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, would be dealt with through “a strategy to knock them out by softening the prosecution”.**
Ms Bhutto plans to land in Karachi. Her first port of call will be the mausoleum of the nation’s founder, Qaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah.
She will then drive to Lahore, emulating the road trips that brought millions on to the streets to support Justice Chaudhry in his confrontation with General Musharraf.
Polling shows that the Chief Justice is Pakistan’s most popular person, with Ms Bhutto a distant second and General Musharraf a cellar-dweller, well behind Osama bin Laden.
Additional reporting: AP
Humor and some Pakistani’s don’t go together - just like democracy. 
