Leaders of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) were meeting Sunday to
chose a successor to assassinated leader Benazir Bhutto and decide
whether to boycott crucial upcoming parliamentary elections.
The nine-member central executive committee of the PPP were meeting
at the Bhutto family ancestral home in Naudero in the southern province
of Sindh, after which they will announce her replacement as chairperson
and read out her will and a letter of instructions for the party in the
event of her death.
Possible candidates to succeed Bhutto include her husband Asif Ali
Zardari, their 19-year-old son Bilawal Zardari, and Makhdum Amin Fahim,
the party's vice-chairman.
As he walked into the meeting, Zardari told reporters, "There's no
lacking of leadership in our party. We have courageous leaders like
Makhdum Amin Fahim."
The elections, scheduled for January 8, were supposed to mark the
return of civilian government following more than eight years of
military rule under President Pervez Musharraf. Pakistan's Western
backers had hoped the polls would stabilize a country which is now on
the brink and facing rising Islamic militancy along its border with
Afghanistan.
Bhutto was killed last Thursday in a gun-suicide bomb attack while
campaigning for a unprecedented third term as prime minister in the
northern city of Rawalpindi, sparking nationwide violence including
attacks on government buildings and election commission offices across
Sindh province, her home and political stronghold.
Bhutto's supporters are accusing rogue elements within Musharraf's
military-backed government of carrying out the murder, and have
rejected official explanations that Taliban militants linked to
al-Qaeda were responsible.
Three days and nights of violence killed at least 40 people, and
damaged hundreds of vehicles, government buildings, banks, shops and
transport links, forcing the deployment of army and paramilitary troops
to some cities.
Officials reported on Sunday that calm was returning across the
country, including in Sindh, but crucial train service may not be
restored for a week due to damage to tracks, train stations, carriages
and communications systems.
"The province is limping back to normality," Home Minister Akhtar Zamin told DawnNews TV.
Nonetheless, some political parties, including the ruling Pakistan
Muslim League-Quaid, are calling for the polls to be delayed for up to
three months, a move which would likely anger the Bush administration
and other Western nations backing Musharraf.
Information Minister Nisar Memon said Sunday that no decision on
postponing the elections would be made until after a cabinet meeting
scheduled for Monday morning in Islamabad, following consultations with
political parties including the PPP, and the Election Commission of
Pakistan.
"The government continues to hold the position that the elections
will be held the 8th of January," he said. "The prime minister is
personally consulting all the parties and whatever their desire, it
will be taken into consideration."
Earlier in the day, thousands of mourners descended upon Naudero to
perform Soyem, or Muslim religious prayers given on the third day
following a person's death, at the Bhutto residence, which were led by
Ali Zardari.
"Benazir Bhutto sacrificed her life for the sake of this country
and for democracy," he told mourners. "But her blood will not be in
vain."
