KARACHI, May 19: The Pakistan People’s Party’s acting secretary-general, Mian Raza Rabbani, has said the external threat facing the country needed the setting up of a national government immediately so that the country could meet the internal and external challenges collectively.

He was speaking at press conference on Sunday here in Bilawal House, where a former MNA from Nawabshah, Syed Bashir Ahmed Shah, expressed his confidence in the leadership of Benazir Bhutto and announced his decision to join the PPP.

In reply to a question, Mr Rabbani said whenever there had been dictatorship in the country, tension had risen on the borders, and now also India got the advantage of an unelected government in Pakistan.

Answering another question, the PPP leader said if there was a move by the government to hold an all-parties conference to take political parties into confidence on the situation, his party would take a decision after consultation with the ARD.

He claimed that in the present trying circumstances only a towering international personality and calibre of Benazir Bhutto could steer the country out of the crisis.

“Declaring Benazir Bhutto absconder during heightening tension on the borders is an insult to the dignity of the country which would result in causing further despondency among the nation,” he maintained.

The PPP Karachi Committee, which met with Haji Muzaffar Ali Shujra in the chair, has criticized the increase in the prices of petroleum products.