ISLAMABAD, Nov 16: Pakistan People's Party Chairperson Benazir Bhutto celebrated Eidul Fitr with solemnity in the United Arab Emirates.

According to a press release issued here by the PPP media cell, this was the ninth consecutive year and seventh Eid that Asif Ali Zardari spent in jail, and the fifth consecutive year and the ninth Eid that Ms Bhutto observed in exile.

The Eid celebrations this year were marked with solemnity due to the death of presidents of the UAE and Palestine.

The press release said members of the Pakistan community called on the PPP chairperson in Dubai to exchange Eid greetings.

Ms Bhutto said imprisonment of Mr Zardari, political prisoners and the exile of so many Pakistanis paled in comparison to the suffering of people whose back was breaking with unemployment, lawlessness and inflation.

She also thanked all those who had sent her cards, letters, flowers, cakes, sweets and email messages on Eid, and said she wished to reciprocate her sentiments to all those who remembered her on the occasion.

Ms Bhutto said on this solemn occasion she prayed for the progress and prosperity of the people of Pakistan. She expressed the hope that the dark years of dictatorship would end soon.