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Bhutto Seeks Support In Pro-Taliban Region

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The Associated Press

Published: December 2, 2007

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ventured into Pakistan's conservative Pashtun heartland Saturday to launch her election campaign, urging resistance against militancy in a main base of pro-Taliban insurgents.

Bhutto urged people in the city of Peshawar to instead rally behind her Pakistan People's Party, which she said would ensure economic development in the region.

"I ask our Pashtun brothers to come forward for peace. They have supported the Pakistan People's Party in the past, and once again they must support the Pakistan People's Party," she said.

Bhutto, a two-time prime minister, was targeted in an Oct. 18 suicide attack that killed 145 people during her homecoming procession after years in exile. She is the first major political leader to launch a campaign since President Pervez Musharraf quit his army post and became a civilian leader last week.

A coalition of other opposition parties are threatening to boycott the Jan. 8 election unless Musharraf reinstates several Supreme Court judges he fired after declaring emergency rule Nov. 3. The coalition members say the judges Musharraf chose as replacements would allow the government to rig the ballot.

An opposition boycott would inflict a serious blow to Musharraf's effort to return Pakistan to democracy after eight years of military dictatorship. The president announced this week that the emergency would end Dec. 16, as demanded by Washington and the opposition.

Bhutto reiterated accusations that the authorities plan to rig the election, but said her party still planned to participate.

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