Benazir to visit India in 'near future'

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, NOV. 17. The chairperson of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and former Prime Minister, Ms. Benazir Bhutto, is scheduled to visit India some time in the ``near future'', a PPP statement said here on Friday.

Ms. Bhutto had planned to visit India in October but the visit was postponed due to the developments in the aftermath of the September 11 terror attacks on the U.S. cities. Her proposed visit to India in 1999 had been postponed due to the Kargil war.

Ms. Bhutto is on a self-imposed exile for nearly three years now after a lower court sentenced her in a corruption case. Though there had been announcements from time to time about her imminent return to Pakistan, there are no definite indications as to when she actually intends to come back.

Indications by her party functionaries in June this year that she might visit India ahead of the summit meeting between the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, and the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, created a sensation in Pakistani and Indian circles.

Following widespread criticism in the press about her travel plans to India, the PPP was forced to clarify that Ms. Bhutto had no intention of visiting New Delhi ahead of Gen. Musharraf.

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Section  : International
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