Solemn occasion: PPP finalises plans for December 27

Gilani and Ashraf will lead memorial services in Multan, Rawalpindi.

LAHORE: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Punjab president Mian Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo said on Friday that the party would be observing former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s death anniversary on the district level as it was not possible to hold a rally at Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh due to work being carried out on the Metro Bus Project in its vicinity.

He was chairing a meeting in this regard at the PPP provincial secretariat in Model Town. It was decided to express solidarity with the families of those martyred in the Peshawar carnage on the occasion of Bhutto’s death anniversary. Tributes would be paid to her legacy at functions organised to mark her death anniversary. Wattoo said former prime ministers Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Yousuf Raza Gillani would preside over functions in Rawalpindi and Multan respectively while PPP leader Makhdoom Shahabuddin would chair functions in south Punjab. Those present on the occasion said they would strive to muster great public support to commemorate Bhutto’s death anniversary befittingly. They vowed to include a large number of women and minorities rights activists in the proceedings to pay homage to the former prime minister.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 27^th, 2014.