LARKANA: Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl and head of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), would not attend the 13th death anniversary programme of slain Pakistan Peoples Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh Bhutto on Dec 27.

Maulana Rashid Mehmood Soomro, general secretary of JUI-F Sindh, confirmed to Dawn on Friday that Maulana Fazl would not be able to attend the anniversary due to certain engagements.

Sources said that the maulana would not participate because the anniversary programme was not a declared public meeting of PDM.

The sources said that PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari had phoned the maulana and invited him to attend the programme but he excused himself from attending it.

However, a five-member delegation of the party comprising Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Abdul Raziq Abid Lakho, Maulana Siraj Ahmad Shah Amroti, Maulana Saud Afzal and Maulana Abdullah Mehr would participate in the anniversary, said Rashid Soomro.

Meanwhile, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari arrived in Naudero on Friday, two days ahead of the scheduled programme of his slain mother while his aunt MPA Faryal Talpur was already there to supervise arrangements, said the sources.

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2020