January 01, 2008	Tuesday	Zilhaj 21, 1428

MUZAFFARGARH, Dec 31: As the nation is struggling steadily to come out of the shock of the tragic murder of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Benazir Bhutto, different candidates of the general elections are making most of the occasion.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz candidate for NA-178 Mian Ihsan Karim Qureshi has pasted the pictures of the late Benazir and PML-N Quaid Mian Nawaz Sharif on his election billboards.

On Monday, the district PML-N held ceremonial funeral prayers for Benazir at Fiaz Park which was attended by besides Mr Qureshi, PML-N’s PP-255 candidate Malik Abdul Khaliq Khar, PP-254 candidate Munna Sheikh and independent candidate for PP-254 Malik Saadat Karlu. PPP candidate for NA-178 Jamshed Dasti and Malik Noor Rabbani Khar, father of Hina Khar who is PPP candidate for NA-177, arranged rasm-i-qul or recitation of the holy Quran for the late Bhutto at their residences, where thousands of the people were present.

As the public sentiments for the Bhutto family are running high, the candidates of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) have gone underground putting off their electioneering to avoid the public wrath. Their election publicity material cannot be seen anywhere.

Nawabzada Iftikhar Ahmad Khan, the son of the late Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan and PML-Q candidate for NA-178, has removed the PML-Q flag from his house.

The candidates of the PPP and the PML-N are arranging or attending qul and funeral prayers for the late Benazir. According to political analysts, PPP and PML-N candidates are gaining strength through condolence meetings and the graph of popularity of both the PPP and the PML-N is going very high. What makes more people sympathetic towards the PPP is the address of the late PPP chairperson in Muzaffargarh on Dec 25. On the occasion, she said, “Look, the people of Muzaffargarh, I’m your sister and your sister asks for your vote. So, will you vote for me?” Following this, she demanded pledge from all the participants that they would vote for the PPP. At this the participants chanted slogans in favour of her and the PPP.

“Now, it’s time that we will fulfil our promise made to BB (Benazir),” said Husnain, of Basti Nawan, who had also attended the meeting.

WHY YOU KILLED HER? AB Mujahid, a diehard worker of the PPP, narrates some emotional scenes he witnessed while travelling to Naudero along with dozens of the PPP workers to attend the funeral prayer of the late Bhutto on Dec 28. He says that when his caravan arrived near Larkana it was quite early in the morning. He said they stopped by an orchard of guava there as they were feeling hungry. They stopped by and saw an old man sitting near a guava plant. He said that they went to the gardener and asked him for the fruit offering him some money. The old man asked them where were they from. When they told him that they were from Muzaffargarh, Punjab, the old man broke down and asked them, “Why you murdered our daughter Benazir Bhutto? What was her fault?” He said the wailing of the old man also brought tears in their eyes. Later, when they told him that they were going to attend the funeral rites of Benazir, the old man offered 20kg guava to the caravan without accepting any money. He says while travelling to Larkana they saw policemen at check-posts crying with grief over the death of Benazir.