New York: Former Pakistan Premier Benazir Bhutto has said that she would return home to fight the general elections and voiced readiness to share power with her avowed foe, military ruler Pervez Musharraf.

"Under the Constitution I can contest the election, and I plan to go back and contest it. He (Musharraf) is trying to ban my participation in the election because most analysts say my party will win the new elections," she said in a telephone interview to 'New York Times' from London.

She said that she did not fear returning to the country, which she left in disgrace and would go back in the next few weeks.

"I don't think of losing. I only think of winning," she said in reply to a question on what she would do if she lost.

Bhutto said that she would be willing to share power with Musharraf if elected.

She said that her Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) would soon challenge in court the laws enacted by the Musharraf regime that would bar her re-election.

Musharraf has said that Bhutto, who faces corruption charges, will be arrested if she returns.

The 'Times' said that Bhutto might simply be bluffing. But if she does return, her arrival could put Musharraf and the US in an awkward position. The PPP has been emerging as a powerful opposition force in the coming elections, it noted.

In the interview, Bhutto hammered away at the democracy theme that the 'Times' said was apparently an effort to win American support for her return. She said that democracy was needed in Pakistan for the effort against terrorism to succeed.

PTI