french white house

KARACHI: Former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto arrived at Karachi airport from Dubai Saturday after President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency, her spokesman in London said while talking to a French news agency.

"She's at Karachi airport. I spoke to her on the plane as it was taxiing. She doesn't know whether she will be allowed to get off, be arrested or deported," Wajid Hasan said by telephone.

"She left Dubai when she heard about the state of emergency."

A spokesman for Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) in Dubai, Mohammed Farooqi, said earlier that the former premier had left the United Arab Emirates for her homeland.

White House has asked President Musharraf to quit the army office before he is sworn in as the president.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said, "The United States is deeply disturbed by reports."

"A state of emergency would be a sharp setback for Pakistani democracy and takes Pakistan off the path toward civilian rule. President Musharraf has stated repeatedly that he will step down as chief of army staff before re-taking the presidential oath of office and has promised to hold elections by Jan. 15. We expect him to uphold these commitments and urge him to do so immediately."

The state of emergency complicates what was already, in the view of U.S. officials, a complicated relationship.