Dawn : Dictatorship leads to terrorism: Benazir Bhutto

Dictatorship leads to terrorism: Benazir Bhutto

Reuters | October 27, 2007

GARHI KHUDA BAKSH, Pakistan -- Thousands of party faithful feted former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Saturday as she visited her stronghold in southern Pakistan.

Chanting “Long Live Bhutto”, around 4,000 jubilant supporters of her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) cheered and clapped as Benzir arrived in a bulletproof vehicle at her father's vast mausoleum in their ancestral village of Garhi Khuda Baksh, near Larkana town in Sindh province.

Benazir draped a shawl inscribed with Islamic verses and sprinkled rose petals on her father's grave.

“I feel very emotional. I wanted to visit the tomb of my father, the leader of the people, and offer prayers,” Benazir told reporters afterwards, before being driven to her family home flanked by paramilitaries in jeeps mounted with machineguns.

“There is still danger of attack, but Allah can protect everyone and I am not scared of these people (militants),” she added, saying she now felt better about her security.

“This great nation is not scared of a bomb explosion and terrorism,” she later told a news conference at her ancestral home. “We are against dictatorship. We believe that whenever there is dictatorship there is terrorism.”