Sharif heads for Bhutto grave visit: spokesman

LAHORE: Pakistani opposition leader Nawaz Sharif was heading to the grave of his assassinated counterpart Benazir Bhutto on Saturday to pay his respects, his spokesman said.   

Sharif was to leave from his stronghold in the eastern city of Lahore with a delegation of around 50 party officials for Bhutto's resting place in the southern village of Ghari Khuda Baksh.   

"The purpose is to personally convey his condolences to the Bhutto family," his spokesman Siddiqul Farooq said.   

Bhutto was buried alongside her father, former premier Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, in her family's imposing white mausoleum on Saturday amid wails of grief from hundreds of thousands of supporters.   

Sharif told on Friday that Bhutto's husband, Asif Ali Zardari, asked him not to attend the funeral because of security fears.   

Both Sharif and Bhutto were two-time prime ministers of Pakistan. Formerly bitter political rivals, they had formed a loose alliance ahead of elections scheduled on January 8.