Bhutto’s party ‘most popular’

THE party of murdered opposition leader Benazir Bhutto is Pakistan’s most popular, according to a survey released ahead of next week’s crucial elections.

The survey, conducted for the US-based Terror Free Tomorrow organisation is the first since Ms Bhutto was killed in December.

The survey also found sympathy for Osama bin Laden and the Taliban has dropped sharply among Pakistanis.

Pakistanis appear to be looking to moderate opposition groups for a way out of the violence and political turmoil.

But the poll was a slap for President Pervez Musharraf, whose standing has plunged since he began reining in Pakistan’s independent judiciary last March in order to ensure his own re-election — 70% of those questioned wanted him to quit immediately. Asked who they would vote for in the February 18 parliamentary elections, 36.7% opted for Ms Bhutto’s secular Pakistan People’s Party.

The party of Nawaz Sharif scored 25.3%, pushing the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League-Q into third place with just 12%.

Rising violence has put a damper on campaigning ahead of the vote, especially in the north-west, where a suicide bomber killed 27 people at an election rally on Saturday. The blast devastated a hall where about 200 people had gathered in the town of Charsadda.

Yesterday, villagers buried victims of the attack on the rally, which was organised by the secular Awami National Party.

No group claimed responsibility, but suspicion fell on Islamic extremists.