Benazir due in US on 26th, Zardari moving to Dubai
By Masood Haider
NEW YORK, Sept 18: PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto is expected to arrive in Washington around Sept 26 while her husband Asif Ali Zardari would leave New York later this month to live in Dubai, informed sources told Dawn on Tuesday.
Mr Zardari, who is a heart patient, was undergoing rehabilitation therapy in a New York hospital.
Although Ms Bhutto is scheduled to address a think-tank, she is likely to discuss the current political situation in Pakistan with senior US officials.
Reports in the US and Pakistani media say that Washington played a key role arranging the July 27 meeting between President Pervez Musharraf and Ms Bhutto in Abu Dhabi where the two discussed a power-sharing deal.
The talks remained inconclusive but media reports claim that the US stayed engaged with both the sides.
Last month, Ms Bhutto had a detailed meeting with America’s UN envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in New York and Mr Khalilzad later told reporters that they discussed the recent political developments in Pakistan.
Mr Zardari is expected to live in Dubai with his two daughters while his son
Bilwal would move to England since he has secured admission at Oxford, sources here said. He is not expected to accompany Ms Bhutto to Pakistan when she returns home on October 18.
Mr Zardari’s move might be a harbinger of things to come and also indicative of the fact that the power-sharing deal between President Musharraf and the PPP leader was back on track, political experts in New York said.
