Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto insisted Sunday she would not strike a power-sharing deal with President Pervez Musharraf so long as he remained the army chief.
Speaking to Britain's Sky News television from Leeds in northern England, Bhutto said it was likey she would return from exile to stand in Pakistan's next general election, due by early next year. "I think the chances right now are pretty good. It's about 90 percent out of 100 for me to stand in those elections," she said.
Benazir, who has been living in self-imposed exile in London and Dubai since 1998 due to corruption claims against her, could be jailed on the charges upon re-entering Pakistan.
The 54-year-old, who was prime minister from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 1996, has had talks with General Musharraf about a possible return to Pakistan but maintained she had grave reservations about a uniformed president.
"It's very important to deal with who's there. He is the person there and if we can find a way to get the uniformed presidency out of the picture, we can find a way to get democracy back... we will be looking forward. "We're not there yet."
She said an amendment passed by Musharraf banning a twice-elected prime minister from seeking office a third time was "an issue which is part of the discussion between us."
"If he doesn't bring the change, if the people of Pakistan, through their elected representatives wish to lift that ban, they certainly can," she said. "Exiled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and I have come to an understanding that we would lift this ban."
The Pakistani government has denied reports that Musharraf held a secret meeting with Bhutto in Abu Dhabi in a bid to arrange a power-sharing pact to steady his position.
Asked why she wanted to return to front-line Pakistani politics, Bhutto said she felt her country was being threatened by extremists. "If the people from Pakistan vote for me, certainly I would to take on that job," Bhutto said. "But this is more than a struggle for me: this is a struggle for the heart and the soul of Pakistan.
"We stand at the crossroads. Very critical choices have to be made between the forces of the past and the forces of the future. There is militancy, terrorism and violence.
"My government and I have had experience of dealing with it. If we could get another opportunity, I would certainly take the challenge." She added: "I don't want the people of Pakistan to face terror at the hands of the Taliban and their allies in Al-Qaeda and become refugees in foreign lands. I want to try and save my country, if I can," she said.
In a German magazine interview to be published Monday, Bhutto warned of a looming Islamist revolution mounted from the country's religious schools, or madrassas.
Bhutto said she was planning her return to Pakistan this year to help stabilise the country in the face of the extremist threat. "The Red Mosque was just a warm-up for what will happen if the religious schools are not disarmed," Bhutto told the news weekly Focus.
She accused Musharraf of adopting an "appeasement policy" toward extremists that had only strengthened them. "We must pursue these people and take them to court," she said. She admitted that she had made mistakes during her time in office in trying to work with the Taliban to pacify the country.
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