The party of assassinated Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto said yesterday it has not decided whether her husband will be its candidate for prime minister after parliamentary elections this month.
Bhutto named her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, to succeed her as leader of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP). But party spokesman Farhatullah Babar said it was "premature" to say whether Zardari would be nominated for prime minister when the new parliament convenes.
"That decision will be taken after the elections" on Feb. 18, Babar said.
PHOTO: AP
Bhutto, a former prime minister, was assassinated Dec. 27 in a bomb and gun attack after she left an election rally in Rawalpindi.
In a handwritten letter dated Oct. 16 -- two days before her return to Pakistan from exile -- Bhutto endorsed Zardari as the next head of the PPP, the country's largest opposition group.
Zardari, who won the support of top aides in the party, has named his son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, as a co-chairman of the party.
But the 19-year-old student at Oxford University plans to stay away from politics until he completes his education.
Zardari is a divisive figure in Pakistan. He acquired the nickname "Mr. 10 percent'' during Bhutto's two governments, in which he served as a Cabinet minister, for alleged corruption.
Both Bhutto and Zardari denied the charges, saying they were politically motivated.
In the letter, Bhutto recommended that Zardari lead the party "because he is a man of courage and honor ... he has the political stature to keep our party united.''
The elections are going ahead despite concerns about the security of voters and candidates and accusations from Bhutto's party that the military-dominated establishment will rig the vote to ensure his survival.
The elections are meant to usher in democracy after eight years of military rule under President Pervez Musharraf. But if the opposition gets a two-thirds majority in the legislature, it could impeach him.
Meanwhile, British detectives will give their first report to the Pakistani government this week on their findings in Bhutto's murder, the interior ministry said yesterday.
A team of forensic and explosive experts from Scotland Yard spent more than two weeks in the country after Musharraf sought British help following Bhutto's death.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS