LAHORE, April 15: Pakistan People’s Party leader Asif Ali Zardari has changed his travel schedule and will now be flying into the city early Saturday morning, and the administration appears to have ensured that no PPP leader reaches the airport to receive him.

Although earlier it was learnt that the authorities might give special permission to a few leaders to go to the airport, a late-night action against the party leadership indicated that the government had toughened its attitude.

According to PPP MNA Sherry Rehman, almost the entire party leadership, including central secretary-general Jehangir Badar, Punjab PPP president Qasim Zia, Qaim Ali Shah, Azizur Rehman Chan and Nafees Siddiqi, was arrested after police raided a house in the Defence Housing Society where a meeting was taking place.

She said that around 30 women participants of the meeting were also detained.

Senior police officers confirmed the raid, although none of them wanted to be quoted.

Earlier in the day, 18 people, including an MNA, two MPAs from Sindh and Mr Zardari’s sister Faryal Talpur, had been arrested from outside Lahore’s Bilawal House in the Cantonment area when Mr Zardari was addressing a press conference on phone from Dubai.

Lawmaker Samina Ghurki and a dozen party workers were arrested from her constituency where police allegedly ransacked some party camps and offices.

A party leader claimed that more than 15,000 activists and workers had been arrested.

With the change in Mr Zardari’s arrival schedule and the arrest of party leaders and workers, it now appears that the PPP’s plan to make the event reminiscent of the rousing welcome accorded to Benazir Bhutto on her return to Pakistan from a self-imposed exile in April 1986 may not materialize.

Sources said that according to the changed programme, after landing at the airport, Mr Zardari would first go to the Bilawal House and later to Data Darbar where he would offer Zuhr prayers.

It may be mentioned that Section 144 has been imposed in the city and the government is determined not to allow any procession. The party has not sought permission to hold a public meeting although the government has said that it could be granted on request. The PPP moved a formal application to hold a procession but the government rejected it.

Meanwhile, Mr Zardari on Friday warned that his party would be left with no option but resort to street agitation and court mass arrests because the government was not providing it with ‘political space’ needed in a democratic country.

In his telephonic press conference, Mr Zardari said that the MMA government in the NWFP had offered to allow him to land in Peshawar if there was any problem in Lahore. “But I declined the offer,” he said.

He said the party did not want confrontation with the government, but it also could not abandon its principles of democracy, struggle against dictators, tolerance for others and dialogue with civil society.

Mr Zardari said the party wanted to welcome him in a peaceful manner. It did not invite other political parties because it was just a reception. But the government refused to tolerate even this ‘benign’ political event.

He alleged that 20,000 PPP workers had been arrested and more than 20,000 were being held hostage in different parts of the country. “The violent manner with which all these workers are being arrested bespeak of political preference of the government.”

The party, he said, had a long history of struggle against dictators and “Pervez Musharraf was no exception”. “Time seems to have come when party has to agitate to save its political philosophy,” he said.

Responding to a question about dialogue with the government, he said the party had always been in touch with the government. But, it did not mean abandoning political principles.

The party, he said, had its own political agenda which would not be sacrificed for the sake of talks with the government.

He stressed that the PPP did not want confrontation with the government, but it needed political space which was a prerequisite of a functional democracy.

If the government wanted to suppress genuine political activities, Mr Zardari said, the PPP would have no qualms in confronting it with all political resources.

Talking about the government’s offer to allow him to hold a rally at Minar-i-Pakistan instead of leading a procession from airport, Mr Zardari said it was a position taken by the government. “But the party has its own agenda that includes a rally from airport to Data Darbar.”

“I will arrive as scheduled and lead a rally to the tomb of Data Sahib,” he said emphatically.

Responding to a question about “being in league with the government and befooling the masses,” he said that he could have struck a deal with Farooq Leghari and escaped eight years’ jail term.

“There is no sense in dealing with a dictator after such a long time in jail,” he maintained.

When asked about the possibility of his being arrested on arrival, Mr Zardari said that jails were not new to him. “I have already spent 11 years in jail, it makes no difference if I am sent behind bars again,” he said.

In Islamabad, PPP spokesman Senator Farhatullah Babar told Dawn the Emirates Airlines management had informed Mr Zardari that it could not operate its chartered flight to Lahore as the Pakistan government had denied permission for the landing of a chartered flight at any airport in the country.

However, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, when contacted, said the government had not issued any directive to any airport regarding landing or otherwise of any chartered aircraft.

“In fact,” he said, “no one has sought permission from the government for landing of any chartered aircraft.”

Mr Ahmed claimed that it was the original plan of Mr Zardari to reach Lahore in the darkness to leave the PPP activists and workers stranded on roads.

In reply to a question, he said the federal government had no intention to arrest Mr Zardari on his arrival.

Responding to the information minister’s claim, Mr Babar said everyone knew that no aircraft could land at any airport in the country without prior permission of the government and the Civil Aviation Authority.

About the changed programme of Mr Zardari, Mr Babar said as a precautionary step Mr Zardari had already got his seat booked on a commercial flight of Aero Asia. He said ARD chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim had already reached Dubai to accompany Mr Zardari to Lahore.