KARACHI: All preparations have been finalised to accord a warm welcome to former president of Pakistan and co-chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party Asif Ali Zardari on his return home from Dubai on Friday. He will arrive by a special flight in the afternoon and land at the old terminal of Karachi airport.

This was announced by PPP Sindh chapter president Nisar Ahmad Khuhro at a press conference at the PPP media cell in Clifton on Thursday. Sindh PPP general secretary Waqar Mehdi, Senator Saeed Ghani, Rashid Rabbani and Najmi Alam were also present.

Mr Khuhro, who is also the senior minister in the Sindh cabinet, said Mr Zardari would be received at the airport by top PPP leaders for which security arrangements had been made. He said a public meeting would be held outside the old terminal building of the airport, where Asif Ali Zardari would speak to the gathering. The permission for the public meeting had already been obtained from the administration, he said and added that reception camps had also been set up by the party outside the airport and at different places in the city.

He said that from the venue of the public meeting to the airport and Sharea Faisal, besides the deployment of police, personnel of the Special Security Unit and Rangers, Janisaran-i-Benazir youths would also be on security duty. The administration has also made arrangements to monitor the venue through CCTV cameras.

Responding to a question, Mr Khuhro said the arrival of Mr Zardari was a slap in the face of those who had been criticising him for not returning home.

In reply to another question, he said the four demands of the PPP had upset the PML-N. It was high time that all political forces united and the PPP should launch a movement [against the government] with the other opposition parties.

In reply to yet another question, the minister said it was regrettable that the PML-N’s attitude was prejudicial towards smaller provinces on all issues, including provincial autonomy, and that CPEC projects were contributing only to development in Punjab.

Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2016