PPP all set to receive Asif Zardari

KARACHI: The Pakistan People's Party has finalised arrangements and made preparations to receive Co-chairman of the party and former president Asif Ali Zardari, who is set to return to the country on Friday after a gap of around one-and-a-half years.

The PPP has planned to hold a massive public meeting and rally outside the Old Terminal-1 of the Karachi Airport once Asif Ali Zardari is back in the city expectedly at around 3pm. The participants of the rally are expected to remain in the main parking area and the adjoining main road from the old terminal till Star Gate where they will listen to the address by former president, Chairman of the party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and by other key leaders of PPP.

The commissioner of Karachi has granted permission to the PPP to hold a public meeting at the Old Terminal-1 of Karachi Airport and for occasional use of loudspeakers at the venue for welcome reception for Asif Zardari. The municipal authorities have made special arrangements for sanitation and lighting of the venue of the public meeting and on adjoining roads.

The former president is expected to board a special chartered flight from Dubai to Karachi. He has scheduled his arrival in the country so that he can attend the function on 27 December at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh to mark the 9th death anniversary of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

A major portion of Sharae Faisal, especially from Drigh Road and leading up to main Karachi Airport, is expected to be blocked for regular vehicular traffic for most part of the day on Friday as workers of PPP would assemble there in the form of a rally to receive the co-chairman of the party.

People who have reservations with different airlines on Friday for their travel on incoming and outbound flights from Karachi are expected to face serious difficulties as they make their journey to and from the Karachi Airport.

Such prospective airline passengers are likely to adopt longer alternative routes for their travel to or from the airport. The Sharae Faisal is not likely to be an option for them on Friday.

The party has hoisted flags, hung display banners, and posters all along Sharae Faisal and on other major roads of the city as part of its arrangements to warmly receive the former president. The PPP has decided not to take out a public rally for movement of the former president from the airport to the Bilawal House on his way back. One option for the former president is to take a helicopter for reaching the Bilawal House in order to facilitate movement of general public.

The PPP has also established reception camps at a number of places in the city as part of its arrangements to give warm reception to the co-chairman of the party.

The provincial police force, other law-enforcement agencies, and traffic police have made special arrangements and plans for security, safety of participants of the rally assembling at airport and for giving alternative routes to vehicular traffic for its easy movement on major roads of the city. The traffic police have publicised the alternative vehicular traffic plan for the city on Friday. The traffic police, however, maintained that no main road in the city would be blocked due to the PPP’s rally as any decision to this effect would be taken while keeping in view number of activists of the party assembling on the thoroughfares for the welcome reception.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, meanwhile on Thursday, also met Acting Inspector-General of Sindh Police Mushtaq Mehar and directed him to make alternative arrangements to facilitate motorists and commuters in the city on Friday due to the rally of the party to receive the former president.

The acting IG also shared on the occasion with CM details of the alternative traffic plan prepared by traffic police authorities for the city on Friday.

Meanwhile, PPP Sindh President Nisar Ahmed Khuhro along with other leaders of the party addressed a press conference to inform the media of the arrangements finalised by the party for the welcome reception of the former president.

Khuhro said that activists of the party would assemble at Old Terminal of the Karachi Airport by 1 pm on Friday in order to warmly receive the co-chairman of PPP. He said that personnel of Sindh Police, Rangers, and Special Security Unit would be deputed at the venue of public meeting, other adjoining parts of the airport, and on Sharae Faisal for performing security duties.  The venue of the public meeting and its participants would also be electronically monitored through a system of closed-circuit television cameras.

He said that once the former president is back in the country, the entire political opposition with renewed impetus would launch a movement against unjust policies of the government, especially that relates to the smaller provinces.

He said the PPP would launch a massive protest movement against the government after December 27. He said that the return of the former president had proved to be a major setback for his detractors.