Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto arrived in the southern port city of Karachi Thursday afternoon by plane.
The plane landed at about 13:45 local time (08:45 GMT) at the Karachi international airport.
Bhutto, after eight years of self-imposed exile, walked out of the plane with smiles, according to local TV reports.
The plane's departure was delayed at the Dubai airport for two times due to extraordinary security arrangements of the flight and changing of seats by passengers.
Before departure, Bhutto told the media at the Dubai airport that her returning home was "a miracle".
"My life and everything is dedicated to Pakistan and I thank the millions of people coming from each and every nook and corner of the country," she said. "I am the leader of the poor and I will live with them and die with them."
Benazir said that her welcome would be greater than the welcome in 1986 and those who have come for welcoming her wanted the end of dearness and unemployment.
However, Federal Railway Minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmad said that the political graph of Bhutto had been declined and that she should not expect welcome like 1986.
Talking to a local TV, Rashid said that things had been changed and the current situation of the country was different from what was in 1986. "Benazir's graph has been dropped and very few people left for Karachi from Rawalpindi to welcome Benazir Bhutto," he said.
Thousands of local leaders and workers of the Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians traveled in more than 2,000 cars, jeeps, wagons, buses and coaches for Karachi Wednesday afternoon to accord warm welcome to Benazir Bhutto there.
According to the schedule, with a special permission from the government, Bhutto will be taken in an imported bullet proof vehicle from the airport to the Pakistan's founder Jinnah's Mausoleum with a procession.
Security is tight in Karachi with helicopters and police on guard.
