London: Former Premier Benazir Bhutto may soon face the same corruption cases that forced her into exile for eight years as the amnesty lifting the charges was likely to be overturned, the top Pakistan government lawyer has said.

Five writs have been issued against the amnesty, which President Pervez Musharraf granted to Bhutto by promulgating an ordinance ahead of her return to the country on October 18, in the Supreme Court and it would not survive the challenge, Pakistan's Attorney General Malik Muhammad Qayyum told The Sunday Times. "I don't think it will survive the challenge," said Qayyum. "Whoever drafted it, it was not happily worded. Only the courts can decide to throw charges out, not governments."

Bhutto told the newspaper she was unconcerned. "I don't care about the cases," she said. "I care about the future of my country. If the court wants to take it up again, all right, let them take it up." Qayyum said he would also be defending the President's eligibility for office and giving his opinion on the emergency. He was referring to the petitions taken by the apex court challenging Musharraf's candidature in the October 6 Presidential poll, which the General swept.

Qayyum said that political motives would play no part when discussing challenges to the Bhutto amnesty, which will be heard by the Supreme Court once it has ruled on the legality of the emergency. "Before Bhutto came back, the President had directed me to defend it to the maximum, but now I am not sure what the stance will be," he said. "The thing is, they erred in drawing it up."

Source : PTI