By MATTHEW PENNINGTON
The Associated Press

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto will return to Pakistan from an eight-year exile on Oct. 18, her party said Friday. The government said she was free to come back but would have to face corruption cases against her.

Makhdoom Amin Fahim, vice president of Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party, announced the date at a press conference and said that Bhutto would fly back to Karachi. Supporters, throwing flower petals over assembled party leaders, chanted: “Long Live Benazir! Prime Minister Benazir!”

“The people of Pakistan will get real democracy” after Bhutto’s return, Fahim said, speaking in front of a huge portrait of the party leader.

Bhutto, who is in talks with President Gen. Pervez Musharraf that could see them share power after elections, would not be deported in the manner of another former premier, Nawaz Sharif, a government spokesman said. Sharif was expelled hours after he flew in on Monday.

That action sidelined Musharraf’s chief political rival while underlining the general’s willingness to take authoritarian steps to extend his eight-year rule, amid a surge in attacks by Islamic militants.

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