After spending eight years in exile, Pakistan’s former prime minister and prominent opposition leader Benazir Bhutto will return to her homeland on October 18.

Makhdoom Amin Fahim, the vice chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party announced Friday in Islamabad that a plane transporting Bhutto from London will land in Karachi next month.

“She will restore genuine democracy in the country,” Fahim said in front of a roaring crowd gathered at the party’s headquarters.

Party spokesmen delivered the news in eight major cities across Pakistan, where hundreds of supporters eagerly awaited the date of Bhutto’s return.

The 54-year-old politician served as prime minister twice between 1988 and 1996. After her second term ended abruptly amid corruption scandals, she decided to leave Pakistan in 1999 in order to avoid a trial for alleged corruption. Since then she has been living in Dubai and London.

Bhutto and President Pervez Musharraf held several rounds of negotiations aiming to close a power-sharing deal, but Musharraf’s refusal to meet some of her demands led to further setbacks and the discussions ended for the moment.

Musharraf is seeking re-election during next month’s presidential election and tried to reach an agreement with Bhutto in order to smoothen his path to another five-year term at Pakistan’s helm.

But the Army General refused to shed his uniform during the election, prompting Bhutto to cancel the talks with his representatives. She also asked Musharraf to promulgate and amendment that would allow her to submit her candidacy for a third term as premier.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) members and supporters agreed she must return to Pakistan “deal or no deal,” because the time has come for “Pakistan to redefine itself,” as a PPP senator said.

Observers said Washington officials are pressing Musharraf to cut a deal with Bhutto and regain the people’s support. The Pakistani leader is one of the main allies of the US in the fight against terrorism in the region, but his popularity plummeted in the past period for controversial decisions, like the dismissal of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in March.

A deal with Bhutto triggered discontent among members of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q and some of Bhutto’s supporters, who consider the opposition leader must not close any pact with Musharraf.

Earlier this week, another opposition leader and former premier Nawaz Sharif returned from exile, but security forces immediately detained and deported him to Saudi Arabia.

Several government officials assured that Bhutto will not receive the same treatment, but Federal Information Minister Ali Mohammed Durrani contradicted the reports and said: “no one is above the law.”