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Bhutto Visits Father's Tomb In Ancestral Homeland

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By GRIFF WITTE, The Washington Post

Published: October 28, 2007

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Under extraordinarily tight security, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto returned to her ancestral homeland Saturday in her first major move since a recent assassination attempt against her claimed 140 lives.

In a quick and tightly scripted visit, Bhutto paid respects at the tomb of her father, former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and waved to a crowd of thousands that had gathered to mark her homecoming after eight years of exile. But Bhutto did not speak to the assembled mass of flag-waving supporters, and concerns about another attack seemed to dictate every aspect of the trip.

Her convoy, which included vehicles mounted with machine guns, sped along the route from the airport in the southern city of Sukkur to the tomb in the village of Garhi Khuda Baksh. Only bodyguards and members of the media were allowed near.

Once inside the tomb - a five-domed, white marble giant that is still being built more than a decade after work began - a solemn-looking Bhutto laid rose petals over the grave of her father, who was hanged in 1979 by Pakistan's then-dictator, Gen. Zia ul-Haq.

Bhutto, who is campaigning to win back her job as prime minister, flew to Pakistan on Oct. 18, arriving in the port city of Karachi. Hundreds of thousands of people turned out to welcome her. But two explosions - at least one caused by a suicide bomber - struck her convoy as it inched through the streets. Bhutto emerged unscathed, but hundreds of people were injured in addition to the dead.

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