LARKANA, Dec 26: The stage is set to observe the 5th death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto, the assassinated leader of the Pakistan People’s Party, on Thursday in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh Bhutto, where about 7,000 policemen, 1,000 Rangers personnel besides commandos have been deployed for security.

A big stage has been prepared from where both the president and PPP co-chairman and Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari (PPP chairman) will address the public meeting.

Extensive traffic arrangements have been made and traffic police and gadgets brought from Karachi to manage traffic on the occasion.

President Asif Ali Zardari along with his children Bilawal, Bakhtawar and Assefa visited the mausoleum of the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh on Wednesday.

They laid wreaths, offered Fateha and remained inside the shrine for some time amid strict security.

They later flew back to the president’s camp office in Naudero.

Abdul Fatah Bhutto, general secretary of the Larkana PPP, told Dawn that the party had pitched tents to accommodate party workers, who have started pouring in from different parts of the country. They would be provided food, and arrangements have been made to feed over 250,000 participants, he added.

He said the main gate of the mausoleum would be opened on the day and so would be the first floor of the mausoleum, where mock graves are constructed. He said the district PPP and the mazar committee were jointly organising the event.

The main ‘pindal’, or marquee, spread over 39 acres, was enclosed with a boundary wall where the key public meeting would be held, said sources in the works and services department.

About 58 acres of land had been developed at the mausoleum, the sources said.

Reception camps have been established in Larkana and Naudero, which are decorated with the PPP’s tricolour flags, and songs paying homage to former prime ministers Z.A. Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto are being played.

All roads leading to Garhi Khuda Bakhsh Bhutto are dotted with police posts.

The Larkana-Naudero road would be exclusively used for VVIP movement, sources in the police said. Caravans from all over the country have started reaching Garhi Khuda Bakhsh Bhutto to pay homage to their leaders. The abrupt closure and opening of roads by the police and the Rangers, apparently for VIP movement, is causing inconvenience to people using different modes of transport to reach Garhi Khuda Bakhsh Bhutto.

The mega event would mark the beginning of Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s political career as he would unveil the party programme for the upcoming general election on the occasion. The PPP central executive committee would meet at the president’s camp office on Dec28, where the issue of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination would be on the top of the agenda, the sources added.