LAHORE, Nov 29: Begum Abida Husain, who has just joined the PPP, will be proceeding to the United States on Saturday where she will be meeting with some congressmen and visting think tanks to explain the PPP’s policy on various issues.

Ms Husain was Pakistan’s ambassador to the US during the first term of Nawaz Sharif, and knew many American lawmakers.

It is said that at a meeting Ms Benazir Bhutto told Ms Husain that the PPP was opposed to the idea of tendering resignations or launching a movement against the government at this stage as both the steps could be ‘counterproductive’.

The former prime minister further told the leader from Jhang that resignations or a movement could provide Gen Musharraf an excuse to postpone the elections, which would not be in the national interest. The PPP would prefer a smooth transition to democracy, Ms Bhutto reportedly said.

The PPP, Ms Bhutto reiterated, wanted free and fair elections under the supervision of a broad-based interim government and an independent election commission.

Ms Husain will urge the US leaders to use their influence on Islamabad to ensure that the electoral process was open and transparent.

There are reports that Nawaz Sharif was annoyed that the PPP leadership let Begum Abida Husain, a former member of his cabinet, join the party. The PML-N leader thinks that since Ms Husain had left his party, the PPP, adhering to the letter and spirit of the Charter of Democracy, should not have let her in.

But, Ms Bhutto clarified to the PML-N leadership that since Ms Husain had contested the 2002 general election from PML-Q’s platform, her switchover from the ruling party to the PPP was not contrary to any understanding reached among the ARD components.