Bhutto makes first trip outside Karachi

Benazir Bhutto offers prayers at father's tomb
ISLAMABAD: Former premier Benazir Bhutto made an emotional return to her ancestral home on Saturday at Larkana in Pakistan's Sindh province after eight years to offer prayers at the tomb of her father, vowing she would continue her fight to save democracy in the country.
     
Eight days after a devastating suicide attack on her homecoming motorcade killed nearly 140 people and injured hundreds more in the port city of Karachi, she flew in a commercial flight to Sukkur with a large contingent of journalists and top leaders of her Pakistan People's Party.
    
54-year-old Bhutto was given a rousing welcome by hundreds of cheering supporters at Sukkur, a town near Larkana.
     
On the flight, she said: "It's been a long time since I have been here and I thank god for giving me the opportunity to put my feet on my homeland again and to see the love of my people.
    
"This has strengthened me to do what I can to save Pakistan by saving democracy," she said.
     
This was Bhutto's first public engagement since the attack in Karachi and the PPP has restricted her movements, saying she faced threats to her life.
     
From the airport, she drove in an armoured SUV that was specially imported by the PPP through dusty village roads to Garhi Khuda Bux, 28 km from here, to pray at the tomb of her father, prime minister Zulfiqar Ali  Bhutto.
     
Bhutto, wearing a maroon salwar-kameez and her trademark white scarf, emerged through the SUV's sun roof and waved to the crowds but appeared tense and nervous when the vehicle was surrounded by scores of people both at the airport and on the grounds of the tomb.
     
On October 23, Bhutto's lawyer Farooq Naek received a letter from "a friend of Al Qaida" that said the former premier would be targeted by female suicide attackers.
     
Many PPP supporters gathered along the road side, waving the party's red, black and green flags and shouting slogans like "Long Live Bhutto" and "Prime Minister Benazir". Many party workers rode motorcycles that trailed her convoy.
     
A plan for her to address the thousands of people who had gathered outside the tomb was shelved due to security concerns.
     
Hundreds of paramilitary troopers from the Pakistan Rangers and policemen were deployed at the airport and the tomb to ensure tight security.
     
PPP volunteers clad in their distinctive white salwar-kameezes formed a human chain at the tomb and cordoned it off from the people who gathered to get a glimpse of the 54-year-old Bhutto, the first woman prime minister of an Islamic nation.
     
Many of the volunteers were armed with shotguns and AK-47 assault rifles.
     
Bhutto entered the tomb with a selected group of PPP leaders and journalists and offered 'fateha' or prayers for salvation and peace at the graves of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, her brothers Mir Murtaza and Shahnawaz and her grandfather.
    
She also showered rose petals on the graves and read passages from the holy Quran.
     
"It was moving to pray at the grave of my father and my brothers, who lost their lives in their prime of their youth. My father used to say the people of Pakistan are my political heirs, they are my sons and daughters," she said on emerging from the ornate tomb.
    
"It's wonderful to be home, to see the sugarcane fields, the paddy fields and to once again breathe the air from which I come," Bhutto said.
    
Bhutto, who has asked the government to review her security in the face of new threats to her life, said: "The security arrangements have been up and down. There have been days when I have been very insecure. But as of last night, things have started falling into place and I am satisfied with the security arrangements (now)."
    
From Garhi Khuda Bux, Bhutto's motorcade travelled to her ancestral village of Naudero, where she met local PPP leaders and friends and relatives in her home there.
    
Larkana, about 480 kilometres from Karachi, has been home to the Bhutto family for generations. Her family own large tracts of land in the area which is considered Bhutto's seat of power.
    
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged in 1979 while Pakistan was under martial law imposed by military dictator Gen Zia-ul-Haq.
    
Bhutto's brother Shahnawaz was allegedly poisoned in France in 1987 while Murtaza was shot dead by police in Karachi in 1996.
    
Bhutto condemned suicide bombings and said true Muslims could not carry out such attacks. She vowed to hold rallies despite the threats she is facing. Bhutto said she would take part in the campaign for the upcoming general election, due by mid-January.