Security tight as Bhutto heads to stronghold

Thousands of supporters greeted former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in her stronghold in southern Pakistan today Her arrival in the region comes just days after an assassination attempt in Karachi that killed 139 people. Security tight as Bhutto heads to stronghold Chanting "Prime Minister Benazir", the jubilant workers of her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) forced their way into the terminal building at Sukkur airport as Bhutto's plane touched down. Some even climbed trees waving red, green and black party flags. "It's a long time since I've been here and I thank God for giving me the opportunity to put my feet on my homeland once again, to see the love of my people," Bhutto said aboard the plane before it touched down. She also recited Islamic verses. "This has strengthened me to do what I can to save Pakistan by saving democracy, which is so essential to giving people safety, security and better prospects," she added, saying she now felt better about her security. As she left the plane, Bhutto kissed a copy of the Koran and a man wrapped a traditional Sindhi shawl around her shoulders. She climbed into a jeep and waved at supporters who showered her with rose petals as she began the drive towards her native Larkana. Supporters dressed in traditional shalwar kameez chased her convoy on foot. "Ours is a bold leader. If she is not scared we are also not scared," said Imdad Chandio as he jostled with police. Hundreds of police and paramilitary troops were deployed at Sukkur airport for Bhutto's first foray outside Karachi since last week's attack marred her return to Pakistan after eight years of self-imposed exile. At least one suicide bomber, possibly two, attacked her convoy in Karachi as it traveled slowly through a crowd of hundreds of thousands of supporters. From Sukkur, she will head overland to the village of Garhi Khuda Baksh, near the town of Larkana, to pray at the tomb of her father, which was being guarded by dozens of workers from her supporters wielding AK-47s. Bhutto's father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan's first popularly elected prime minister, was toppled and later hanged by the military in 1979. Supporters defiant "One should not be discouraged or scared by an incident like we had (last week)," said Javed Karim Chandiyo, a supporter waiting for Bhutto in Larkana. "If we are scared of such things, the whole (democratic) process will collapse." PPP flags and portraits of Bhutto and her father lined the roads in the countryside around Larkana, where farmers were busy harvesting their rice crops. The government blames the Karachi attack on Islamist militants based in tribal lands bordering Afghanistan, where al Qaeda and the Taliban are entrenched. Bhutto suspects political allies of President Pervez Musharraf were also plotting against her, although she says she has no reason to believe he personally was involved. Musharraf granted an amnesty that allowed Bhutto to return to Pakistan without fear of prosecution in graft cases hanging over her from the 1990. There is speculation the pair could end up sharing power after national elections due by early January. Such a union would be welcomed by the United States, which is worried by rising militancy in nuclear-armed Pakistan. On Friday troops battled militants near the stronghold of a Taliban-style movement in northwestern Pakistan a day after a suicide bomber killed 21 people in the area, 17 of them soldiers. Violence has escalated across Pakistan since July, when militants scrapped a peace deal and the army stormed a radical mosque in the capital, Islamabad.

Security tight as Bhutto heads to stronghold

Chanting "Prime Minister Benazir", the jubilant workers of her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) forced their way into the terminal building at Sukkur airport as Bhutto's plane touched down.

Some even climbed trees waving red, green and black party flags.

"It's a long time since I've been here and I thank God for giving me the opportunity to put my feet on my homeland once again, to see the love of my people," Bhutto said aboard the plane before it touched down. She also recited Islamic verses.

"This has strengthened me to do what I can to save Pakistan by saving democracy, which is so essential to giving people safety, security and better prospects," she added, saying she now felt better about her security.

As she left the plane, Bhutto kissed a copy of the Koran and a man wrapped a traditional Sindhi shawl around her shoulders. She climbed into a jeep and waved at supporters who showered her with rose petals as she began the drive towards her native Larkana.

Supporters dressed in traditional shalwar kameez chased her convoy on foot.

"Ours is a bold leader. If she is not scared we are also not scared," said Imdad Chandio as he jostled with police.

Hundreds of police and paramilitary troops were deployed at Sukkur airport for Bhutto's first foray outside Karachi since last week's attack marred her return to Pakistan after eight years of self-imposed exile.

At least one suicide bomber, possibly two, attacked her convoy in Karachi as it traveled slowly through a crowd of hundreds of thousands of supporters.

From Sukkur, she will head overland to the village of Garhi Khuda Baksh, near the town of Larkana, to pray at the tomb of her father, which was being guarded by dozens of workers from her supporters wielding AK-47s.

Bhutto's father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan's first popularly elected prime minister, was toppled and later hanged by the military in 1979.

Supporters defiant

"One should not be discouraged or scared by an incident like we had (last week)," said Javed Karim Chandiyo, a supporter waiting for Bhutto in Larkana. "If we are scared of such things, the whole (democratic) process will collapse."

PPP flags and portraits of Bhutto and her father lined the roads in the countryside around Larkana, where farmers were busy harvesting their rice crops.

The government blames the Karachi attack on Islamist militants based in tribal lands bordering Afghanistan, where al Qaeda and the Taliban are entrenched.

Bhutto suspects political allies of President Pervez Musharraf were also plotting against her, although she says she has no reason to believe he personally was involved.

Musharraf granted an amnesty that allowed Bhutto to return to Pakistan without fear of prosecution in graft cases hanging over her from the 1990. There is speculation the pair could end up sharing power after national elections due by early January.

Such a union would be welcomed by the United States, which is worried by rising militancy in nuclear-armed Pakistan.

On Friday troops battled militants near the stronghold of a Taliban-style movement in northwestern Pakistan a day after a suicide bomber killed 21 people in the area, 17 of them soldiers.

Violence has escalated across Pakistan since July, when militants scrapped a peace deal and the army stormed a radical mosque in the capital, Islamabad.