Fomer Pakistani Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, on sunday, toured her political stronghold to visit the families of victims of the bloody October 18 suicide blast that shattered a mass rally in Karachi to welcome her home, leaving 145 people dead.
Surrounded by more than a dozen policemen, Bhutto made a tour of Larkana, the southern city near her ancestral village, a day after arriving in the area during her first outside Karachi since the assassination attempt.
Her security guards circled her and pressed through throngs of hundreds of residents who had gathered to welcome her in the narrow streets of the poor neighborhood of Ayoub Colony. They showered her with rose petals and chanted ” Prime minister Benazir”.
Wearing a black coat and her trademark white headscarf, Bhutto went to the home of Nizmuddin Sammo, a 22-year-old supporter who was killed in the blast. She met with his mother and two sisters, promising them financial assistance from her Pakistan Peoples Party.
She praised Sammo as a young man who ” lost his life in the moment to save democracy. He did not bow his head before dictatorship and terrorism. His sacrifice will not be in vain” Since the bombing, bhutto had been largely confined to her residence in Karachi, but was eager to start her compaign for parliamentary elections slated for January.She said she is not intimidated by the attack.
Hundreds of supporters greeted her as she arrived in her ancestral village amid tight security last Saturday and paid homage at her father’s tomb. Her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was Pakistan’s first popularly elected leader who was overthrown by the military and hanged in 1979. She said that she will travel on to the cities of lahore and Islamabad, and also wants to go to Pakistan-controlled parts of Kashmir and remote areas along the Afghan border when the Taliban and Al-qaida are tightering their grip
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