ISLAMABAD, July 6: The Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) has advised the party chairperson Benazir Bhutto not to return to the country and wait for a suitable time.

This was stated by senator Mian Raza Rabbani while briefing reporters about the decisions taken at the joint meeting of the party’s CEC, federal council and parliamentary group here on Sunday.

Mr Rabbani said the meeting, presided over by party president Makhdoom Amin Fahim, noted that time was not suitable for Benazir Bhutto to return to Pakistan, “though the country sorely needed her.”

He said Benazir Bhutto was not afraid of facing cases filed against her, but after seeing the attitude of lawyers and the bar councils, the party felt that she should not come to Pakistan.

He termed the opposition’s move against the Legal Framework Order (LFO) the biggest “constitutional struggle” of the country’s history.

He admitted that the PPP had ideological differences with the MMA, and was opposed to its internal and foreign policies, but said it was supporting the alliance due to its principled stand on the LFO.

The PPP, he said, had decided to increase contacts with the people to launch a protest campaign against the government, and it would use the platforms of the ARD and the combined opposition for doing so.

He said the party had initiated legal action against members of the PPP Patriots, and soon references would be filed against them.