LAHORE, Oct 24: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Benazir Bhutto is likely to visit the provincial metropolis next week, and during her stay here she will preside over a party meeting at Bilawal House near old airport terminal in the Cantonment area.

Ms Bhutto was scheduled to arrive here on Oct 25, but she deferred her visit owing to precarious security situation in the wake of twin blasts in the Oct 18 rally in Karachi. A senior PPP leader told Dawn on Wednesday that Ms Bhutto’s visit to Lahore was rescheduled and she was expected to arrive anytime during the next week.

According to the leader, the PPP chairperson, now in her ancestral village Naudero in Larkana district, was likely to go to Islamabad tomorrow and stay there for three days before coming to Lahore.

Ms Bhutto will be a state guest in the federal capital and will stay in a government building.

He says a special joint meeting of the party’s central executive committee and the federal council has been called during Ms Bhutto’s stay in Lahore to take some important decisions.

How long the PPP chairperson will stay in the city, the programme is being kept secret for the obvious reasons.

According to the PPP leader, the party had informed the government about Ms Bhutto’s programme and the authorities had assured their leadership that she would be provided with foolproof security.