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Zardari readies for campaign

With just two weeks until Pakistan's general election, a muted campaign is set to heat up with Benazir Bhutto's husband taking to the stump for the first time since her assassination.

Asif Ali Zardari will battle for votes after the 40-day Muslim mourning period for his wife finishes on Thursday, with campaign preparations already under way for the Feb. 18 polls, his Pakistan People's Party (PPP) said.

Campaigning has been almost non-existent since the opposition leader's death in a suicide attack on Dec. 27, with the only sign of activity being the colorful political banners that hang in every town and village.

"Candidates are conducting their own electioneering in their constituencies but the co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari will start the election campaign from February 7 after the Chehlum," spokesman Farhatullah Babar said.

The Chehlum is the ceremony marking the end of mourning.

"There is lot of frustration and tempo [of the campaign] is very slow. From one point of view it is not good but then from another angle the sympathy element is very strong," Babar said.

Zardari's first major engagement is a public meeting on Saturday in the rural town of Thatha in Sindh Province, senior party official Qaim Ali Shah said.

"He will also likely hold a rally in Karachi before heading off to Punjab," the country's most populous province, Shah said.

Western diplomats have warned of possible unrest at events to mark the end of mourning for Bhutto.

But the political scene has been eerily quiet since her death.

Opposition parties say the government of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is talking up the threat to candidates, such as former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, in a bid to stifle electioneering.

Interior ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema said the threat was genuine and that authorities were making "foolproof security arrangements for politicians who face threats from terrorism."

"Political parties have been advised to eschew large rallies and processions and restrict their public meetings at specified venues," Cheema said.

"These precautionary measures are the need of the hour in view of terrorist attacks including the assassination of major national leader Benazir Bhutto," he said.
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