PPP delegates return from US

By Ashraf Mumtaz

LAHORE, Jan 28: A three-member PPP delegation which visited the United States to seek support for its demand that the government entrust the investigation of Ms Benazir Bhutto’s assassination to the United Nations returned home on Monday ostensibly with no sign that the Bush administration will put pressure on President Musharraf to accept the PPP’s point of view.

Party sources, however, said the visit helped the PPP to put across its point of view to important people, including Congressmen they met during their three-day stay.

The visit was “pretty successful in terms of Congressional support for a UN probe as well as for elections on time,” the sources said. Information secretary Sherry Rehman led the delegation.

“They haven’t given any indication that they will support the PPP’s point of view,” the sources told Dawn.

The government said that the Scotland Yard team was competent to investigate the matter. However, the PPP sources said that its terms of reference were limited to finding the cause of death and it could not identify the perpetrators and financiers of the crime. The sources said that it was premature to say whether the party would accept the findings of the Scotland Yard team.