ISLAMABAD, Jan 9: Senior leaders of the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) on Tuesday met party chairperson Benazir Bhutto at her Dubai residence to discuss the strategy for a multi-party conference in London, proposed by PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif for next month, sources in the PPP told Dawn.

The sources said that PPP president and ARD chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim, secretary-general Raja Pervez Ashraf, deputy secretary-general and opposition leader in the Senate Mian Raza Rabbani, information secretary Sherry Rehman, PPP Punjab president Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Senator Dr Safdar Abbasi and Naheed Khan attended the meeting in which the strategy for the next general elections was also discussed.

The sources said the meeting would again be held on Wednesday after which some important announcements were expected from the party regarding the decision to participate in the multi-party conference. They said that Ms Bhutto had serious reservations about taking part in the conference where the leaders of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) would also be present. Despite the fact that the PPP and the PML-N were the main components of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy, the PPP was reluctant to participate in the conference sponsored by the PML-N as Ms Bhutto did not want to enter into any agreement with the MMA.

A spokesman for Ms Bhutto and former senator Farhatullah Babar said that he was unable to contact any of the party leaders in Dubai and, therefore, could not say anything about the meeting.