February
7, 2008 Thousands Pray for
Bhutto as Mourning Ends, and Poll Buzz Begins
Garhi Khuda Bukhsh (Pakistan)
Forty days after she was assassinated, thousands of Pakistanis
gathered here Thursday to pray for former prime minister Benazir
Bhutto outside the mausoleum where she rests with her father and two
brothers.
As people from across the country reached to pray for the slain
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader to mark the end of 40-day
religious mourning, her husband Asif Ali Zardari again denied that
he was vying for the prime minister's slot.
"To become a prime minister one needs to contest the polls (for
parliament) and I am not contesting any elections," said Zardari,
who holds the reins of the party for his son Bilawal. While Zardari
is not a candidate in the Feb 18 elections, many of his close
colleagues say that he would be standing in the by-polls that would
be held a month later.
The speculation only intensified after Benazir's will was made
public, giving Zardari more legitimacy. Addressed to PPP members,
the late leader described her husband as a "man of courage and
honour" and said that she would like him to "lead you in this
interim period until you and he decide what is best".
The end of the 40-day mourning, called Chehlum, also marks the
beginning of election campaign by the PPP, with Zardari expected to
address the crowds later in the day.
There was heavy security around the mausoleum with closed circuit
cameras, walk through gates and security scanners.
"We have made maximum security arrangements on the occasion," said a
police officer Ghulam Rasool, who heads the security for Chehlum.
While religious gatherings to pay homage to the slain leader were
held throughout the country, the largest congregation was in this
town with more than 40,000 people reciting the Quran outside the
Bhutto family mausoleum, where former prime minister Zulfikar Ali
Bhutto now rests with his three children - Benazir, Murtaza and
Shahnawaz.
People from all over Pakistan started reaching this Sindh town
Wednesday evening. Hundreds of them spent the night under a huge
tent erected in front of the mausoleum.
They were remembering the leader, assassinated Dec 27 in a gun and
bomb attack minutes after she addressed a rally in Rawalpindi. She
had been prime minister twice (1988-90 and 1994-96) but could not
complete her tenures on both occasions.
The undercurrent at the ceremony was sharply political.
"We will win the elections and we want her husband to be the prime
minister," mourner Ishaq Ali told IANS. He said people in Pakistan,
especially in Sindh, Bhutto's home province, stand behind her
husband.
Syed Ahmed Shah, another PPP worker from Lahore, said that this was
the time for "all PPP workers and leaders to campaign for the arrest
of Bhutto's killer".
The government has accused a tribal warlord with links to the
Taliban and Al Qaeda of masterminding her murder, but Bhutto wrote
before her death that government and intelligence figures were
plotting to kill her.
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