NAUDERO, Pakistan • The party of slain Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto released her will to the public yesterday to prove that it names her husband as her political heir.
The move follows a whispering campaign that Bhutto had not handed the leadership of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) to her spouse Asif Ali Zardari, and that she instead picked their 19-year-old son Bilawal.
The handwritten will-dated October 16, two days before the former premier returned to Pakistan from exile-also says that she feared for Pakistan's future in the face of extremism and dictatorship.
"I would like my husband Asif Ali Zardari to lead you in this interim period until you and he decide what is best. I say this because he is a man of courage and honour," said the will, unveiled at the Bhutto home in southern Pakistan. Bhutto was assassinated at a political rally on December 27. The party named Zardari and Bilawal as co-chairmen three days later, after the will was read out to senior party members, but not to the public.
The will says that Zardari "spent 11.5 years in prison without bending despite torture. He has the political stature to keep our party united."
Zardari spent the time in jail on allegations of corruption and of involvement in the killing of Bhutto's brother, Murtaza, in 1996. He was never convicted and was freed in 2004.
But he remains a divisive figure within the party, and with Bilawal still studying at Oxford University the party is keen to present a unified face ahead of a general election on February 18.
"Some enemies wanted to create chaos in the party by spreading false speculation about the contents of the will," party spokeswoman Sherry Rehman told a news conference as she made the document public.
"That is why the party high command has decided to share the will with the public and the media to foil all such controversies and keep the party united."
Addressed to the "officials and members" of the party, the one-page will also says Bhutto was "honoured" to lead them and urges them to continue her work.
"I fear for the future of Pakistan. Please continue the fight against extremism, dictatorship, poverty and ignorance," it says.
The Pakistani government and the United States Central Intelligence Agency have blamed Baitullah Mehsud, an Al Qaeda-linked tribal warlord, for Bhutto's murder in a gun and suicide bomb attack.
In a posthumously published autobiography, Bhutto says she was informed that groups including Mehsud's and another led by a son of Osama bin Laden were targeting her.
But she also said that senior Pakistani government and intelligence officials were plotting against her. The government has denied these claims.
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1 comment:
Considering what goes on in my County and City, willing a position to someone is no new concept.
Bhutto's husband is not Bhutto, and let's face it they were exiled for some time. Regardless of who inherits her position, it's still not going to help the situation there.
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