High drama marks departure of PPP team to London

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, APRIL 16.A group of 11 senior leaders of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has left for London for consultations with the former Prime Minister and party leader, Mrs. Benazir Bhutto, on the course of action in the wake of the recent Supreme Court order quashing the lower court conviction against her in a corruption case.

High drama preceded the departure of the leaders as the authorities in Karachi stopped five other top leaders of the party from boarding the flight. No reasons have been given for the decision and the leaders have claimed that none of them is on the Exit Control List.

The meeting between Mrs. Bhutto and the PPP leaders is being watched with keen interest as they are supposed to decide the date of return of Mrs. Bhutto from self-exile.

An immediate announcement on the date of return is unlikely for more than one reason. The apex court is yet to spell out the grounds on which it has quashed the order of the lower court and the military government could be expected to plan its next move only after the details of the judgment are out.

Mrs. Bhutto would also obviously like to await not only the details of the verdict but also the next course of action of the Musharraf Government. She has given enough hints that her return may not be possible before the end of the elections to the local bodies in the last week of May. The decision of a district magistrate in the United Kingdom to hand over 22,000 pages of documents on the reported details of assets and bank accounts of the family members and friends of Mrs. Bhutto could also complicate the process of her return.

As things stand most PPP leaders are in favour of Mrs. Bhutto's return soon after the local body elections. They believe that she should the risk the chances of being detained by the military government as only such a daring act could help the party to win back the confidence of people.

There have been hints from the top functionaries of the military government that she could be arrested if she returns. She is an accused in several other cases and atleast in one case a non- bailable warrant is pending against her.

In another development, authorities in Lahore on Monday reportedly bulldozed the office of the Jaish Muhammad outfit. A report in the Urdu daily Nawai Waqt said the action was taken without any prior notice and office furniture and other equipment worth more than one lakh rupees was destroyed. A spokesman of the Jaish has been quoted as saying that the office was sealed three days back and two activists of the outfit were arrested. Jaish Muhammad office- bearers have condemned the action. Sipah-e- Sahaba leaders have also deplored the government's action terming it as evidence of the `anti-jehad' policies of the regime.

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