KARACHI, Oct 12: Pakistan People’s Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto’s plan to return home on Oct 18 is irrevocable despite a threat to her life.
This was stated by PPP’s information secretary Sherry Rehman at a news conference at the Karachi Press Club on Friday.
Accompanied by PPP’s Sindh information secretary Fahmida Mirza, Ms Rehman said Ms Bhutto would return as per schedule and all apprehensions on the subject were misplaced. Ms Bhutto, she said, planned to lead the party from the front and bring a new revolution with the support of the people for their emancipation and a genuine democratic dispensation based on tolerance.
In the context of the NRO, she claimed the PPP had not compromised on principles and was in the forefront of the movement for the supremacy of the judiciary. She also claimed that the NRO was not PPP or BB specific. It contained elements that were also part of the Charter of Democracy the PPP had signed with the PML-N and other parties. In this context, she also referred to statutory law of limitations prevalent in many countries.
She also claimed that on Oct 18 Karachi would wear a bridal look and commended party cadre for efforts made for mass mobilisation and publicity.
Ms Mirza said that on Oct 16 the final plan for Oct 18 would be unfolded at a news conference. Recognising the role of the media, she solicited its cooperation for that day.
Karachi PPP President Rashid Rabbani claimed that over a million people would turn out to welcome the PPP leader. Additional information secretary of Sindh Waqar Mehdi and General Secretary for Karachi Rafiq Engineer were also present.
Homecoming
Despite Gen Musharraf’s advice to the PPP chairperson to reconsider her plans to return home on Oct 18 and wait for the supreme court’s verdict, Benazir Bhutto is firm on keeping her appointment with the people of Pakistan.
So if you have travel plans for Oct 18, reschedule them because the milling crowds of Bhutto’s jiyalas would fill the streets of this metropolis and it would not be possible for you to get in or out of the airport, or even travel in that direction for many hours before and after her Emirates flight from Dubai lands here at 11am.
The city is already humming with festivity despite of the month of piety, not only because of the upcoming Eid, but also due to the activity of the jiyalas in connection with her homecoming.
The PPP is already in the election mode. Huge signboards and banners with BB’s pictures, mostly with her father, the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, could be seen at almost all vantage points along Sharea Faisal and other parts of the city, promising more power and emancipation to the people. This was despite the reported misgivings in the PPP cadre over BB’s dialogue and understanding with Gen Pervez Musharraf, and the critics’ allegation of stabbing her father’s party in the back by opting for such a process.
Top PPP leaders, including Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Syed Qaim Ali Shah and Raja Ashraf left for Dubai on Wednesday to brief Ms Bhutto on the arrangements and the unfolding political situation. This is though a planned visit, after Gen Musharraf’s advice to Ms Bhutto to reconsider her plan to return, rumours were afloat that she might reschedule her visit in view of the serious concerns expressed by security agencies.
One could see Bhutto’s posters and wall-chalkings with welcome slogans in a vast area. Party leaders, both local and national, have also taken the opportunity to express their loyalty to Ms Bhutto by putting up banners and posters in their respective city areas. Once again one could see people dancing to traditional drumbeats and chanting slogans of Jeay Bhutto and Ho Jamalo.
PPP leaders say they are not apologetic on the so-called understanding their leader has reached with Gen Pervez Musharraf and claim that the executive can withdraw cases unilaterally. Genuine criminal cases against all politicians are withdrawn and even their bank liabilities are written off if they choose to side with the establishment, they say.