KARACHI, 11 November — The acting secretary-general of the Pakistan People’s Party, Reza Rabbani, yesterday dismissed as of no consequence a statement from Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider that Benazir Bhutto was free to return home, and will not be arrested.
The minister was much more categorical in his assertion this time when he told journalists in Karachi on Friday night that "Benazir had twice been the prime minister of the country. She is most welcome to end her exile and return home. She will not be arrested. If she wants she can face the court. But we are not going to arrest her because only those persons are arrested who try to escape".
His statement had caused excitement in party ranks, but when Reza Rabbani was asked for comment, he reiterated that there was no change in the situation. The government remained firm on its position that Benazir will have to be arrested on landing in Pakistan, and will have to seek release from the courts.
" I don’t know why Moinuddin Haider made such a statement. It may be his personal views because newspapers had simultaneously reported from Islamabad that the federal government was firm on arresting her."
"Moin’s statement may reflect a particular mindset of the army, but let me say that there is no change in the government. We have not been given any assurances that our party leader will not be arrested on return. We therefore do not pay any importance to what the interior minister has said" Rabbani, a former senator and minister in Benazir’s last Cabinet, told this correspondent.
