Pakistanis observe death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto
Sunday, 28 December 2008
GARHI KHUDA BAKHSH, (Pakistan) (AFP): More than 150,000 grieving Pakistanis thronged the tomb of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto Saturday, mourning their beloved leader one year after her assassination.
A sea of sobbing mourners, some wailing and beating their chests in a wrenching outpouring of emotion, flooded through security checkpoints into the graveyard in rural southern Garhi Khuda Bakhsh for the commemoration.
Thick fog had stranded tens of thousands on the roads leading into the area early in the day, prompting authorities to delay the start of the proceedings, but began to lift after noon.
Bhutto, 54, was assassinated on December 27, 2007 in a gun and suicide attack at a campaign rally in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, just two months after returning to Pakistan from exile to vie for a third term in power.
Her shocking death threw the world's only nuclear-armed Islamic nation into chaos, sparking violence and leading to months of political turmoil that ended in September when her widower, Asif Ali Zardari, claimed the presidency.
"In the tradition of a true Bhutto, she faced certain death rather than abandon her principles or the people," Zardari said in a message to the nation to mark the anniversary.
A sea of sobbing mourners, some wailing and beating their chests in a wrenching outpouring of emotion, flooded through security checkpoints into the graveyard in rural southern Garhi Khuda Bakhsh for the commemoration.
Thick fog had stranded tens of thousands on the roads leading into the area early in the day, prompting authorities to delay the start of the proceedings, but began to lift after noon.
Bhutto, 54, was assassinated on December 27, 2007 in a gun and suicide attack at a campaign rally in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, just two months after returning to Pakistan from exile to vie for a third term in power.
Her shocking death threw the world's only nuclear-armed Islamic nation into chaos, sparking violence and leading to months of political turmoil that ended in September when her widower, Asif Ali Zardari, claimed the presidency.
"In the tradition of a true Bhutto, she faced certain death rather than abandon her principles or the people," Zardari said in a message to the nation to mark the anniversary.