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Pindi set to welcome Benazir, Nawaz

By Aamir Yasin

RAWALPINDI: The city is all set to host two former prime ministers - Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairwoman Benazir Bhutto and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif today.

Bhutto will address a public meeting at Liaquat Bagh earlier in the day, while Sharif will also be in the town later in the evening to formally launch the election campaign of Javed Hashmi and Hanif Abbasi facing the all-time winner former Railways minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed.

This will be the first-ever public appearance of the two leaders in Rawalpindi after their homecoming. The PPP had also arranged a public meeting at Liaquat Bagh on November 9 after the arrival of their leader but the provincial government did not allow the holding of the meeting. Bhutto was placed under house arrest in Islamabad, while party workers and activists were baton-charged and tear-gassed, making them run for their life.

Electioneering in Rawalpindi is still in low gear and is expected to shift into top gear after the arrival of the two top politicos.

A red carpet awaits Bhutto, as it will be her first public meeting in the Punjab. The Rawalpindi chapter of PPP has made special arrangements to welcome their party leader. The entire city has been flagged and decorated with life-size posters of Bhutto and her father the late ZA Bhutto.

The district administration has already made elaborate security arrangements for Bhutto in the light of intelligence reports that extremists were waiting in their wings to target her. A two-kilometre area around the public meeting place has been declared red security area. Anybody heading towards Liaquat Bagh will have to pass through three search points. Walk-through gates will also be installed to ensure maximum security.

The entire length of Murree Road from Committee Chowk to Marir Chowk will be closed and traffic will be diverted to Rawal Road, while a parking place for vehicles of PPP leaders will be specified away from the site of the public meeting.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq told Daily Times on Wednesday that Sharif would arrive in Rawalpindi via GT Road and address public gatherings at Jhelum, Gujar Khan and Rawat on his way to the city. He will enter the town from Karal Chowk near the Islamabad International Airport and visit various localities of the town.

Meanwhile, addressing a press briefing at Rawalpindi-Islamabad Press Club on Wednesday, Agha Riazul Islam, chief of the organising committee for the public meeting, said the PPP would accord a historic welcome to Bhutto on her arrival and the public meeting would be the last nail in the coffin of former ruling party and dictatorship.

He said the organising committee had tasked over 2,000 party workers with security of Bhutto and they will perform their duties with the coordination of city police.

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