KARACHI, April 10: People’s Party Parliamentarians secretary-general Jehangir Badr has asked Pakistan Muslim League president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain to face the arrival of Asif Ali Zardari politically, instead of getting scared or alarmed. In a press statement released on Sunday, Mr Badr said: “Asif Zardari is coming as a saviour for the people of Punjab, who had been deprived of a people’s government for their province for three decades through gerrymandering elections and martial laws.”

He said Mr Zardari’s reception would be a rehearsal of the return of party chairperson Benazir Bhutto. He asked Chuadhry Shujaat to reserve his scare for that occasion.

Mr Badr alleged that the ‘Chaudhries’ had ditched their own mentors and they would not stay loyal to Gen Pervez Musharraf “as their past history of political deceptions”.

He claimed that Mr Zardari’s arrival was an important event in the political history of the country.

He said the PPP should also be allowed political activities like other parties because, according to him, only the PPP could facilitate a real democracy in the country, and this would be tested on the arrival of Mr Zardari.

The PPP leader claimed that millions of people of the four provinces and Azad Jammu and Kashmir were eagerly waiting to move to Lahore to receive Zardari.—PPI