Benazir Bhutto returnsKEY POINTS:
Just hours before explosions tore through hordes of Benazir Bhutto's supporters in Karachi, killing dozens and injuring hundreds, a surging sea of people along Airport Road were roaring her name and waving her party's red, black and green flags as if they were about to enter battle.
On top of her specially-customised truck, Benazir Bhutto was managing to keep a smile - at least most of the time.
After eight years of urbane existence in London, Dubai and countless visits to the US, was she perhaps having second thoughts about returning to the maelstrom of South Asian politics?
"It's a wonderful homecoming. Who could have had a better homecoming?" insisted Ms Bhutto, wearing a green salwar kameez and a white headscarf.
"I feel overwhelmed by the love and support of the people. I have always felt very proud of the people of Pakistan...they are the people who will save the nation if given a chance."
Eight years after she last left Pakistan and more than two decades after she first returned from exile to challenge a military dictator and win power, Ms Bhutto received an ecstatic, uproarious welcome yesterday that paralysed parts of Karachi.
She could be seen crying after she finally stepped again on to Pakistani soil.
Flying into Karachi from Dubai on an Emirates flight EK606, the former prime minister finally emerged from the terminal and boarded her truck at 3.30pm, by which time thousands of her chanting supporters had gathered in front of the building.
Seventy-five minutes later her open-top truck had barely moved more than 200 metres, such was the crush of people and the deliberately slow pace of its procession.
"Jiye Bhutto," sang her supporters as they danced and waved.
"Long live Bhutto."Her supporters and detractors will argue about precisely how many people turned out to welcome her on a blistering, cloudless day; one senior Pakistani journalist and a veteran of political rallies reckoned at least half a million people were present.
Perhaps a better indication of the sheer number of people was that, from about three miles from the airport, the main road, Sharea Faisal, was so solidly packed with people that it was impossible to drive.
Cars and buses were parked up in the centre of the fume-filled highway and people were either walking to welcome her bus or else waiting on the pavement for her entourage to pass.
There may not have quite so many people as welcomed her when she first returned to seek power in 1986, but even her opponents would struggle to deny that yesterday was a victory for Ms Bhutto and her Pakistan People's Party (PPP).
So why had so many people turned out to welcome this woman who went into self-imposed exile to avoid corruption charges n allegations levelled at her in the courts of several countries and which she has never been able to shake off?
Why had these crowds n including many, many poor people from rural parts of the province of Sind n come to cheer for a woman born into a life of privilege and wealth?
"We like her, we love her," said Mohammed Rahn, from Lyari, one of Karachi's poorest districts, as he sat on a banner-strewn bridge with a dozen friends.
"Benazir gave me employment during her first term. We endorse her."
Many said they were here because of their affection for Ms Bhutto's father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the country's first elected prime minister who was hanged by coup leader General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq in 1979.
Though Ms Bhutto may have inherited her wealth, at least they knew where her money had come from.
"We are willing to die for her," said Mohammed Ismail Balauch, who was standing in the crowds at the airport.
"Her father provided jobs for the people of Lyari. He came many times. This is a day of happiness for the people of Pakistan."
Another explanation for yesterday's large, peaceful turnout is that the PPP political machine had been very efficient in getting its members from across Pakistan to travel to Karachi for the event.
All parts of the country appeared to be represented, from Kashmir to the Punjab.
And some people had clearly come out of curiosity; one 17-year-old, Walid Khan, admitted he had only gone to the airport because his friends persuaded him to get on the PPP bus.
Ms Bhutto's stage-managed return to Pakistan came as the result of a power-sharing arrangement she has made with the country's military leader, General Pervez Musharraf.
Part of the deal - brokered by the United States and Britain n includes an amnesty, signed by General Musharraf, that quashed a series of outstanding corruption charges against her.
For its part, Ms Bhutto's PPP party agreed to abstain from, rather than boycott, the presidential election earlier this month that General Musharraf won by a landslide.
Having returned to Pakistan, Ms Bhutto will now lead her party in parliamentary elections slated for January and seek an historic third term as prime minister.
Many senior PPP members disapproved of her negotiations with General Musharraf, though such concerns were apparently not shared by the rank-and-file supporters filling the streets yesterday.
Most dismissed the claims and said that, unlike General Musharraf, she would work for the ordinary people.
On board her bus, Ms Bhutto also dismissed suggestions that she should not have made a deal with a man who seized power by means of a coup in 1999.
"Of course there will be criticism," she said, waving to her supporters.
"I had a choice of either entering dialogue and moving towards democracy or else repeating the last five years.
"If the last years would be repeated then the extremism would be repeated. We chose the path of negotiation n there does not have to be collaboration."
Ms Bhutto will have no more than three months to use the momentum of yesterday's return to spearhead her party's campaign.
And much remains unclear.
Analysts ponder whether General Musharraf will stand by his promise to stand down as head of Pakistan's armed forces and take his oath of office as a civilian president next month.
Likewise, they ask to what extent General Musharraf will be prepared to share power with a civilian prime minister even if the PPP holds the majority of seats after the parliamentary elections.
For Ms Bhutto and the PPP, those issues lie ahead.
Last night she was making the most of her frenzied reception after eight years away.
In the coming days she is expected to travel to her ancestral home near the town of Larkana where she will pay her respects at the grave of her father, the man whose political party she inherited.
Quite when she will get there is unclear.
As darkness fell last night, her convoy was still making its slow steady way through Karachi's fume-filled streets towards the mausoleum of Pakistan's founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
There she was due to address a rally of supporters and thank them for the welcome they had given her.
- THE INDEPENDENT
