ISLAMABAD, Sept 13: The Pakistan People’s Party will announce on Friday the date and venue of party chairperson Benazir Bhutto’s return to the country.PPP spokesman and former senator Farhatullah Khan Babar told Dawn that Ms Bhutto’s return schedule would be announced by party leaders in news conferences to be held simultaneously in eight cities, including Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Muzaffarabad, Gilgit and Fata.

The main news conference to be held at the PPP’s Central Secretariat in Islamabad will be addressed by party’s vice-chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim and information-secretary Sherry Rehman.

Mr Babar declined to give any specific date of Ms Bhutto’s return. However, party sources said the former prime minister was expected to land in the country by the end of next month, possibly between Oct 20 and 25.

Responding to a question, Mr Babar said that Ms Bhutto’s return had no connection to the ongoing power-sharing dialogue with the Musharraf regime. When asked to comment on reports that the talks between Gen Musharraf and Ms Bhutto had failed, he said: “Doors are not closed, but we can’t say at this moment that they are close to any agreement.”

Shamim-ur-Rehman in Karachi adds: The PPP chairperson is likely to return home on Oct 24, one week after Eid, well-informed sources say.

However, they said that Ms Bhutto herself would formally announce the date of her return on Friday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Bilawal House and the PPP secretariat are busy giving fining final touches to video-clips, welcome songs and jingles and posters and banners which will be distributed all over the country.

At Bilawal House, CDs of Ms Bhutto’s speeches and activities and party songs are being pre-viewed.

“We will make it a historic welcome and will prove that Benazir Bhutto has an unprecedented popular following and that the PPP is the only national-level party,” said Jameel Soomro of the media cell at Bilawal House.