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KARACHI, Sept 14: Workers of the Pakistan People’s Party broke into loud applause as soon as they heard on Friday that their self-exiled leader would return on Oct 18.
The moment the central deputy secretary-general of the PPP and leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Mian Raza Rabbani, announced the date of Ms Bhutto’s return at a crowded press conference at Bilawal House, thousands of PPP workers broke into spontaneous cheers and chanted slogans. Sweets were distributed following the Iftar dinner arranged for the party workers and the newsmen present there.
Senator Rabbani read out the statement of Ms Bhutto in which she declared that despite several rounds of negotiations no agreement had been reached between the two sides.
”In the difficult hour through which the nation is passing, I want to be with the people of Pakistan to take them out of the present difficult times,” she said in her statement.
According to the plans, Ms Bhutto would visit the mausoleum of the Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah soon after her arrival.
At the press conference Mian Raza Rabbani was accompanied by Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, Aftab Shahban Mirani, Nawab Yousuf Talpur, Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah, Dr Fehmida Mirza, Naveed Qamar, Nafees Siddiqui, Makhdoom Jameeluz Zaman, Ijaz Jakhrani, Rashid Rabbani, Makhdoom Jameeluz Zaman, Agha Siraj Durrani, Jam Saifullah Dharejo, Taj Haider, Prof N. D. Khan, Sardar Nabeel Ahmed Gabol, Dr Zulfiqar Mirza, Jameel Soomro, Engineer Gianchand, Jameel Soomro, Ijaz Durrani, Waqar Mehdi, Qadir Patel and a number of elected MNAs and MPAs.
‘No deal but dheel’
Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim said that if Benazir Bhutto wished to return she was most welcome as she had not been exiled by the government.
“All these people had left the country themselves,” he pointed out.
The chief minister was talking to the media after presiding over a meeting of sugarcane Abadgars.
In reply to a question, he recalled that earlier Nawaz Sharif also used to deny any deal but later every one became aware of the reality.
When asked if any deal had been struck with the PPP, the chief minister said it had not been a deal but “dheel”.
“Let us see how long it lasts,” he quipped.
He said that elections would be held in a free and fair manner and every party could take part in the polls.
Earlier, about the outcome of the meeting with Abadgars, the chief minister said that sugarcane crush season in Sindh would start from Oct 1.
