Zardari vows to defend democracy

SLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari said on Sunday he would survive politically and defend democracy in Pakistan, which is battling Al-Qaeda-linked militants determined to destabilize his pro-US government.

Speaking on the second anniversary of the assassination of his wife, former premier Benazir Bhutto, Zardari suggested he had no intention of resigning after the possibility of corruption charges against his close aides weakened him. “If anyone casts an evil eye on democracy, we will gouge out their eyes,” he told supporters in Bhutto’s hometown of Naudero.

He dismissed speculation he might not survive politically, saying he would swear in a new government after the next election, due by 2013. Bhutto’s second death anniversary was observed across the country.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) stalwarts gathered at the ancestral graveyard of the Bhutto family at Nau Dero and offered their homage to the slain leader.

Prime Minister Sayed Yousaf Raza Gilani and President Zardari placed wreaths at the grave and announced their resolve to trace the assassins of Bhutto.

Zardari pointed that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto made Pakistan a nuclear state and that the nuclear delivery missile program was initiated by Benazir Bhutto.

He said: “My children Bilawal, Bakhtawar and Assefa would carry forward mission of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.” Earlier in the day, the killing of a district official and five relatives in the northwest was a reminder of the immense challenges facing Zardari. Police said militants blew up the house of the official, Sarfraz Khan.

The attack in the Kurram region near the Afghan border appeared to be part of a campaign waged by Al-Qaeda-linked militants who have spread their reach to cities, including the capital Islamabad.

In another attack on Sunday evening, 10 people were killed and several were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the Mall Road in Muzaffarbad, capital of Azad Kashmir.

Deputy Commissioner of Muzaffarabad Chaudhry Imtiaz told Arab News: “A suicide bomber blew himself in front of Combined Military Hospital”.

Director General of Kashmir Institute of Public Administration said it was a suicide bombing, but it was puzzling as to why the bomber would try to hit a hospital. Agencies