DUBAI, April 26: Pakistan People’s Party Chairperson Benazir Bhutto seems to be preparing for a head-on confrontation with the government as she told her party leaders here on Saturday: “I will soon be among my people,” indicating her intentions to end her self-exile.

She met the leaders, senators and members of the national and provincial assemblies of her party belonging to Punjab on Saturday, and is due to meet the elected members and the party leadership from Sindh on Sunday.

“Make preparation for my arrival; this time I want you to get me a two-third majority, not just a simple majority,” she told the party stalwarts, implying the present political setup will soon be gone, paving the way for new elections.

The party leaders, who met her to inquire about the health of her mother, Begum Nusrat Bhutto, remained with her for more than eight hours.

A leader from Punjab told Dawn after the meeting: “How long would she remain in exile? She is keen to return and lead the party.”

According to details given by a party spokesman of her conversation with the party leaders, she strongly criticized President Pervez Musharraf for “rewriting the Constitution” given by her father and ex-prime minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, in 1973 after reaching a national consensus.

“We will defend the 1973 Constitution and will continue to defend it,” she was quoted as saying at the meeting. “My father accepted martyrdom but he didn’t bargain with the military rulers on the hopes and aspiration of his people.”

Makhdoom Amin Fahim, head of her party in Pakistan called PPP Parliamentarian, arrived late due to his engagement as a member of the opposition delegation that discussed the Legal Framework Order (LFO) with Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali. Mr Fahim joined the meeting at around 5pm — six hours after the meeting began.

According to sources, Mr Fahim was to have a one-to-one meeting with Benazir Bhutto to brief her on the progress of the opposition’s dialogue with the government.

The PPP leader criticized the military rulers’ policies and held them responsible for the current problems the country was faced with.

“When in power, we will take strong measures to defend our borders. We are the party of middle and lower classes and days are ahead when the poor people of this country will rejoice with their party in power,” she was quoted as telling her party leaders.

She had met the party leadership last month when organizational matters were discussed in detail and again a series of meetings started on Saturday.

Those who attended Saturday’s meeting were: Raza Rabbani, Naheed Khan, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Zia Qasim, Rana Aftab, Altaf Qureshi, Misbahur Rehman, Shamim Kurti, Sajjad Bukhari, Sajjad Latif Khuso, Samina Naveed, Safdar Warrhaich, Samina Ghurki and others.