Pakistan is urging exiled former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto to delay her return until the country's Supreme Court rules conclusively on a law granting her amnesty, an official said Saturday. Bhutto _ is set to arrive in Pakistan on October 18, ending an eight-year exile to campaign for upcoming parliamentary elections. President Pervez Musharraf last week signed an ordinance quashing graft cases against the two-time prime minister and dozens of other politicians and bureaucrats. But, the Supreme Court agreed Friday to hear petitions against the ordinance. On Saturday, Deputy Information Minister Tariq Azim said it was in Bhutto's political interest if she waited for the court's ruling. The Supreme Court has said it will hear the case next month. «President Musharraf also wants her to (wait), and I think she should consider it,» Azim told The Associated Press. He said it would create a «conducive environment» if Bhutto accepted Musharraf's proposal. «At this point, the cases against her stand withdrawn, but if the court rules against the ordinance, she will have to face the cases.» Azim's comments came a day after Musharraf, in an interview with the BBC, said that Bhutto should delay her return, although he added that he would not prevent her from coming back if she decided to do so. «There is a lot happening here. There are court cases, and I think she should come after that,» he told the BBC. Musharraf, who has held talks with Bhutto on the possibility of sharing power after the parliamentary elections due in January, said he was yet to receive any reply from Bhutto.
