Zardari takes to campaign trail for first rally since Bhutto death

THATTA, Pakistan, Saturday (AP) - Thousands of Benazir Bhutto supporters gathered in a southern Pakistan town today as her widowed husband prepared to address the first major campaign rally by her opposition party since her slaying in a suicide attack six weeks ago.

Striving to fill the void left by the former prime minister, Asif Ali Zardari will urge followers of her Pakistan People's Party or PPP to push for victory in Feb. 18 parliamentary elections that are meant to restore democracy after years of military rule.

Party faithful mobilized at towns along the 110-kilometre (70-mile) route from Karachi and were traveling toward the historic town of Thatta for the rally. Police said about 2,000 officers were deployed to secure the sports stadium where Zardari would make his speech later today.

''We will avenge the blood of Benazir. We don't have bombs. We are not terrorists, but we have political power and we will capitalize on this political power to avenge the death of Benazir,'' said Haji Jaffar, 75, a retired teacher and People's Party member. ''The passion and love for the PPP has increased after Benazir's assassination. The people who were not with us yesterday are with us now,'' he said.

The PPP is widely expected to benefit from a sympathy vote over the liberal-minded leader's Dec. 27 killing in the garrison city of Rawalpindi _ an attack President Pervez Musharraf's government has blamed on a Taliban militant commander. But it remains to be seen if Zardari can unite the party and dispel public doubts over his track record. He was labeled ''Mr. 10 Percent'' over his alleged pilfering of state funds and demands for kickbacks during Bhutto's two administrations in the late 1980s and 1990s.

Pir Bakhsh, a 24-year old laborer, said that Zardari's reputation was not good but that love for Benazir ''compels us to attend this rally.'' A vast portrait of Bhutto, alongside a picture of her 19-year old son Bilawal, dominated the backdrop of the stage where Zardari would speak. Bilawal, currently studying at Oxford University, was appointed party chairman after her death, but Zardari is the de facto leader.

The rally comes a day after Scotland Yard released its findings that a bomb, not a bullet, killed Bhutto as she left her last election rally Dec. 27. That supported the conclusion of the Pakistan government, but is still disputed by Bhutto's party, which maintains she was shot.

The British investigators concluded that Bhutto suffered a fatal head injury when the force of a blast from a suicide bomber hurled her against a lever on the roof of her armored vehicle.