Zardari news conference after release from custody

(23 Dec 2004)

1. Asif Ali Zardari, husband of former prime minister of Pakistan, arriving
2. Various of Zardari giving victory sign
3. SOUNDBITE: (Urdu) Asif Ali Zardari, Husband of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto
"Benazir Bhutto will definitely come back to Pakistan. You will see, the election will be held in 2005. This is our thinking and Benazir Bhutto and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) are united. There will be a national fair and free elections in Pakistan."
4. News conference
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Asif Ali Zardari, Husband of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto
"Yes, yes, we will not let these forces that want to weaken Pakistan succeed."
6. Cutaway cameramen
7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Asif Ali Zardari, Husband of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto
"We are not fighting for any other thing than democracy."
8. Zardari holding up a poster of Benazir Bhutto
9. Close-up of poster of Bhutto

STORYLINE:

The husband of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was freed on Wednesday on bail a day after his surprise arrest in a murder case.

Asif Ali Zardari has accused the government of victimising its political opponents who are campaigning for democracy.

He was arrested on Tuesday just before he was to address a major opposition rally that could have been politically embarrassing to Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf, who has come under criticism for reneging on his vow to give up his post as head of the army.

Zardari denies plotting the 1996 slayings of a former judge and his son, one of a series of cases against him that supporters contend are
politically motivated.

The order for his arrest came just a month after he'd been freed on bail from eight years in jail over a slew of cases, mostly related to allegations of corruption during his wife's two terms of government in the early 1990s.

His arrest sparked a clash on Tuesday between his supporters and police at an airport near Islamabad where he'd been due to address the rally.

Police said 71 opposition workers were detained in the unrest, and several people were injured.

It also set back hopes of reconciliation between Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party and Musharraf, who took power in a bloodless coup in 1999 and is accused of backtracking on promises to restore full democracy.

After his release, Zardari told a news conference in Karachi that his wife would return to Pakistan next year, ending more than five years in exile.

Bhutto was twice elected prime minister and still commands strong support in southern Pakistan. Both her governments were dismissed for
allegations of corruption and misrule.

She lives in exile in Britain and the United Arab Emirates to avoid arrest in corruption cases.

Zardari, Bhutto's former minister for investment, is accused of making money illegally while his wife was the prime minister.

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