ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Peop­les Party (PPP) has started preparing for its public meeting at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh on April 4, to mark the death anniversary of the party’s founding chairman, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Former president Asif Ali Zardari and his son PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari are expected to address the meeting that will be held a day after a joint meeting of the party’s central executive committee (CEC) and federal council.

PPP leaders believe that this time around, the CEC meeting will not be merely ceremonial, as party leaders are also expected to discuss a strategy for the upcoming general elections scheduled to be held in July or August this year.

Speaking to Dawn, PPP secretary general Nayyar Hussain Bokhari said the main purpose of convening the CEC meeting was to pay homage to party leaders, including Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who had sacrificed their lives for the cause of democracy and the rule of law in the country. However, he added, when politicians gathered anywhere, they discussed the current political situation in the country, with regard to recent incidents or upcoming events. He said the term of the present National Assembly and all four provincial assemblies would expire on May 31, after which general elections will have to take place within 60 days. He said since the elections were just round the corner, they would definitely discuss the PPP’s plans for it.

Mr Bokhari did not rule out the possibility of announcing the formation of parliamentary boards which would decide candidates for the upcoming general elections. He said the events to mark Mr Bhutto’s death anniversary were still being finalised, and Mr Zardari and his son were expected to attend the CEC meeting as well as the public meeting.

Similarly, former senator Farh­atullah Khan Babar said that since 2018 was election year, they would definitely discuss a strategy for it in the CEC meeting. Mr Babar, who is also a member of the committee constituted to prepare an election manifesto for the party, said the committee had already completed its task and a draft of the manifesto was being given a final shape. He said Senate Deputy Chairman Saleem Mandviwalla was the convener of PPP’s manifesto committee, and he was expected to convene a meeting soon to give final touches to the manifesto.

However, he said that it would be a near impossible task for them to finalise the manifesto draft by April 3.

The PPP will mark the 39th death anniversary of the its founding chairman Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was hanged in Central Jail, Rawalpindi, on April 4, 1979 during the military rule of Gen Ziaul Haq, who had imposed martial law in the country in July 1977 in the wake of a political crisis that had been triggered by the opposition’s allegations of massive rigging in the general elections.

Separately, Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah has written to the management of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and the secretary of the Civil Aviation Authority, asking them to make arrangements for operating special flights to facilitate party workers and leaders across the country who want to attend the April 4 gathering in Larkana.

Published in Dawn, March 25th, 2018