MULTAN, Feb 22: The district government finalized on Tuesday arrangements for the proposed visit of President Gen Pervez Musharraf here on Feb 26. The president will address a public gathering at the Multan Cricket Stadium.

A meeting of the representatives of local bodies belonging to the district was held with Nazim Riaz Husain Qureshi in the chair.

According to an official press release, councillors from the PPP and the PML-N have also assured the Nazim that they would assist him to make the president's public gathering a success irrespective of their party association.

It was decided that the councillors and their supporters would first assemble at the residence of Nazim and then set off in a motorcade of 250 buses and 100 wagons to receive the president.

It was further decided that the transport would be hired instead of forcibly impounding for the public meeting. A six-member committee headed by union council Nazim Shahid Jamal was constituted to make arrangements for the event.

Meanwhile, provincial minister Rana Qasim Noon also chaired a meeting at the circuit house to review arrangements for the proposed visit of the president. The Feb 26 public meeting will be second of the president in Multan.

On the other hand, the outspoken opposition member in the Punjab Assembly, PPP's Dr Javed, has urged the provincial and the district governments to remind Gen Musharraf the promises he had made for the development of Multan in his referendum rally three years ago, including a grant of Rs500 million for a proper water and sanitation system, besides construction of Qadirpur Raan bypass and link roads.