Bhutto party eyes Pakistan votes with week to go

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 11 (AFP): Benazir Bhutto's husband will campaign in Pakistan's political heartland this week after a poll showed the slain opposition leader's party is the country's most popular, an aide said Monday.
Asif Ali Zardari will lead a rally of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) in the major industrial town of Faisalabad in Punjab province Thursday, ahead of elections on February 18, said close aide Zulfiqar Mirza.
Punjab plays a king making role in Pakistani politics as the bulk of the seats in parliament are from the populous province, where more than half the Islamic republic's 160-million people
live.
"Asif Ali Zardari will convey Bhutto's message to the people of the largest province, which is vital for us," Mirza told the news agency.
"He will explain that Bhutto's mission was to fight for the rights of the people."
Bhutto was assassinated at an election rally in the garrison city of Rawalpindi in Punjab on December 27. Zardari is acting as
party leader until the couple's 19-year-old son, Bilawal, is old
enough to take over.
"Punjab is a major province, it is the heart of Pakistan, it is our power base because it has always leant support to the PPP,"
Mirza said.
Campaigning has so far been sparse in Pakistan due to government warnings of attacks on rallies. A suicide bombing at a meeting of a small opposition party in northwest Pakistan Saturday killed at least 25 people.
But on the same day Zardari held a rally in southern Pakistan that was attended by around 100,000 people.
A poll conducted by the US-based Terror Free Tomorrow organisation and released at the weekend identified the PPP as the country's most popular party ahead of the elections.
The survey found that 36.7 per cent of people said they would vote for Bhutto's party, while 25.3 per cent chose the opposition party of former premier Nawaz Sharif.
Only 12 per cent said they would vote for the former ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q party, which backs President Pervez Musharraf. Seventy per cent said they thought Musharraf should resign.
The poll further said that sympathy for Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden had dropped sharply, with only 24 per cent of Pakistanis approving of him against 46 per cent in a similar poll in August.