LAHORE, March 13: Ms Benazir Bhutto will come back when the election schedule is announced or is about to be announced, says PPP acting secretary-general Raza Rabbani.

“Her return (to Pakistan) is not linked with the lifting of ban on political activities,” he told reporters at the office of Punjab information secretary Naveed Chaudhry on Wednesday.

The PPP election campaign, he said, would be led by Ms Bhutto. He said the party was not negotiating any deal with the government for the safe return of Ms Bhutto. In fact, he said, talks between the two sides were aimed at working out a strategy for the return of the army to the barracks. The victimization of PPP leaders was another subject of talks, he said.

Mr Rabbani said the PPP and the Jamaat-i-Islami were poles apart as far as their thinking was concerned and there was no question of any cooperation between them. It would be wrong to assume that the Jamaat was opposed to the establishment. In his opinion it was the post-Sept 11 situation and the destiny which had pitted the Jamaat against the government.

About the justification of the PPP agreeing to adjustments with the Jamaat in the local elections, Mr Rabbani argued that the elections had been held on non-party basis. He said local organizations had been allowed to make adjustments according to objective conditions and this did not mean that the two sides had come closer to each other.

He said the JI was a component of the APC while the PPP was staying away from the conglomerate. On the other hand, he said, the PPP was a part of the ARD with which the Jamaat had nothing to do.