LARKANA, Oct 24: It is no less an occasion than Eid for the people in the city and its adjoining towns and villages as they look forward with joy and thrill to according warm welcome to Ms Benazir Bhutto who is coming back to her hometown after more than eight years in self-imposed exile.

People from different sections of society in Larkana, Naduero and Garhi Khuda Bakhsh Bhutto who commented on Benazir’s return on Wednesday expressed their joy at seeing their sister - as they respectfully called her - back with safety

Sitting on small boulder with a birch in one hand 70-year-old shepherd Mohammed Sachal Khuhro who claims he has seen Z.A. Bhutto said her sight would be cool breeze to his old and weary eyes “after all she is our sister and daughter.”

He said he had been personal servant to late Ayoub Khuhro, former Sindh chief minister, a position which enabled him to be eyewitness in many of the meetings between late Z.A. Bhutto and Ayoub Khuhro whom Bhutto called uncle.

Naudero town is being decorated with the party’s tri-colour flags, banners and life size posters as police, in collaboration with local PPP leaders and security in-charge Dr Shafqat Soomro, are seen busy finalising arrangements.

Police personnel from entire Sukkur region have been called in to buttress security arrangements in the small town. Different TV channels have set up their mobile vans for live coverage of her arrival.

With tears in his eyes and charged voice Mohammed Suleman Bhutto whose father Muhammed Malook Bhutto had led Namaz-i-Janaza of late Z.A. Bhutto said “it will not be less than an Eid for us when she returns home.”

Haji Mashoque Leghari, who works on Ms Benazir Bhutto’s land and claims he is one of the persons who had attended the Namaz-i-Janaza of late Z.A. Bhutto, said standing near the tomb “we are not concerned with jobs nor anything else but we only want her safe and secure return.”

He recalled the good old days when he used to offer Eid prayers with Z.A. Bhutto in Naduero saying “though we can not bring back those days but we can still feel their fragrance in Ms Benazir Bhutto.”

He prayed “may God provide us opportunity to see his (Z.A.Bhutto’s) daughter in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh Bhutto. I have been flowers at the mausoleum’s main gate since 12 years and my eyes have witnessed many miracles.”

Her return would no only be beneficial for the country but also for Sindhis who would particularly not feel themselves isolated in her presence, he said.

Koral and Imam Bakhsh Shaikh, tillers who reside very close to the mausoleum, that the ‘cruel and merciless’ people were trying to block her way but God would protect her. “We are unlettered persons but we feel proud to be hailing from her hometown,” they said.

Rehmat Morio, vice-president of Naduero chapter of the party and Syed Shaman Shah, member of working committee PPP Larkana said “workers feel themselves orphaned in her absence.”

“Our hearts bled and boiled when we heard that blasts had hit her caravan but thank God she escaped unhurt,” they said. The tongue that Z.A. Bhutto had given to people had been silence in her absence but now the workers would rule. “We have tasted the bitter defeat in local bodies’ elections in Larkana only because of internal rifts,” they said.

She would bring together all the dissenting groups and rebuild the party, they said. “Yes, her arrival had generated a wave of enthusiasm in the rank and file,” said Muhammed Paryal Sethar, a peasant from Khuda Bakhsh Sethar village near Naudero.