In a sudden turnaround, slain former
premier Benazir Bhutto's husband Asif Ali Zardari Wednesday
said he had "no intention" of becoming prime minister and that
his Pakistan People's Party (PPP) would decide on a candidate
for the post.
The PPP co-chairman said he was not a candidate for the
prime ministerial post while talking to journalists at
Bhutto's ancestral village of Naudero in the southern Sindh
province.
Zardari's remarks came a day after Newsweek magazine
quoted him as saying he might be interested in becoming prime
minister if the PPP wins the February 18 general election as
he had the "widest name recognition" in the party.
"There is no one single personality (in the party), apart
from me, who anybody even knows," he said. "No one else has a
consensus."
The PPP Tuesday released what it described as Bhutto's
"political will", in which she named Zardari as the "interim"
leader of the party but did not back anyone for the post of
prime minister.
Bhutto was assassinated in a suicide attack after
addressing an election rally at Rawalpindi on December 27.
Meanwhile, thousands of PPP supporters have started
gathering at Naudero and Garhi Khuda Baksh, the village where
the Bhutto family mausoleum is located, for a ceremony to be
held Thursday to mark the end of 40 days of mourning for the
slain leader.
The arrangements for Bhutto's 'chehlum' were given final
touches Wednesday. Camps have been set up near the mausoleum
and tents have been erected around a nearby stadium to
accommodate the PPP supporters.
Cassettes of Bhutto's speeches were played throughout the
day in the camps as people poured in from across Sindh to
participate in the ceremony. Some people walked a long
distance to join the ceremony.
Special prayers for the dead and readings from the Quran
will be held at 9 am tomorrow and this will be followed by the
singing of hymns. The people who participate in the ceremony
will be fed at a 'langar' or community kitchen.
Shafqat Hussein Soomro, the nazim or mayor of Ratodero
tehsil, said strict security arrangements had been made for
the ceremony.
A commemorative service will also be organised at Liaquat
Bagh in Rawalpindi, where Bhutto was assassinated. PPP leaders
and workers from Islamabad and Rawalpindi will gather at the
venue to light candles and shower rose petals to pay homage to
their leader.
The PPP will also organise a torch rally from Liaquat
Bagh to Rawalpindi General Hospital, where Bhutto was taken
after the attack, Thursday evening.
Bhutto's 19-year-old son Bilawal, who was made chairman
of the PPP after her death, will not attend his mother's
'chehlum' ceremony.
"Our party chairman is not expected to arrive as he is
spending his time on his studies, which are his major priority
at the moment," a PPP spokesman said.
Co-chairman Zardari and other senior PPP leaders will
lead the mourning processions and memorial gatherings, the
spokesman said.