Bhutto books 130 tickets for homecoming

PAKISTAN: Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto booked 130 air tickets for October 17 from London to Karachi as part of her preparations to return home on October 18, sources in her Pakistan People’s Party said here.

“She will start her journey back home on October 17 on an Emirates flight. She will have a stopover for two hours in Dubai, and then fly to Karachi. She will reach here on October 18,” a PPP leader who did not want to be identified told this newspaper. “We have booked 130 tickets.

Several British, US and European parliamentarians, politicians and PPP leaders will accompany her (Ms Bhutto). There may be some journalists too (who will come with her), but they are not included in the group of 130,” he said. The PPP leader, said: “The booking was made from Oslo.

But of course she will fly from London.” He said arrangements to welcome Ms Bhutto back home have been finalised, and “the rest will be settled at the October 3 meeting (of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy, led by the PPP) in London.”

On September 14, Ms Bhutto had announced that she will return to Pakistan on October 18. Addressing a press conference, she said that in her Capitol Hill meetings she had “put across the message that I was returning to Pakistan to bring change because I believe the stability and security of Pakistan lies in democracy, and the welfare of the Pakistani people lies in democracy.”

Ms Bhutto said she underscored that terrorism can best be curbed when the people of Pakistan are participants in their government. “I believe terrorism can best be undermined when the people of Pakistan are participants in their government and when people become stakeholders in the government.

I came away with the impression that there is a strong commitment to restoration of democracy in the country, while Gen. Musharraf is still viewed as a key ally by the international community,” she said.

Islamabad, Friday, Asian Age