GARHI KHUDA BAKHSH: President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday urged the country to foil "conspiracies against democracy."
Asif Ali Zardari was expected to address tens of thousands of followers at the Bhutto mausoleum later Tuesday in a rare public speech.
Benazir Bhutto, who was twice elected prime minister, was killed in a gun and suicide attack on December 27, 2007 in Rawalpindi after addressing an election rally.
"Today we pay tributes to her. The best way to do it is to defend and protect democracy and democratic institutions in the country and foil all conspiracies against it," said Zardari in a statement issued by his office.
"Let us on this day re-dedicate ourselves to the democratic mission of... Benazir Bhutto whose life was dedicated to fighting dictatorship and those seeking to defame and dismantle democratic institutions," the president said.
"I therefore urge all the democratic forces and the patriotic Pakistanis to foil all conspiracies against democracy and democratic institutions," he said.
Tens of thousands of people gathered at Bhutto's mausoleum on Tuesday, converging outside the heavily guarded perimeter of the compound to pay their respects.
"There will be hundreds of thousands of people by the end of the day," Asif Haider Shah, commissioner of Bhutto's native Larkana district, told AFP.
Around 6,000 policemen, hundreds of paramilitary officers, electronic gates, aerial surveillance and sniffer dogs were ensuring security, he said.
"More than 100,000 people have already visited or are coming to visit the mausoleum. The number will certainly increase by the end of the day," senior police official Hashim Laghari told AFP.
Pakistan People Party co-Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari with his father appealed for democracy to prevail in an editorial written in a Daily English Newspaper.
"We must remain committed to the evolution of a democratic Pakistan and reject the calls for confrontation between institutions," he wrote.
He also appealed to anti-Americanism, which has recently been inflamed by US air strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on November 26.
Millions of Pakistanis oppose the government's alliance with the US war in Afghanistan and on Monday The New York Times said the counter-terrorism partnership can only survive in limited form.
"It is only under a democratic government that Pakistan finally stood up to demand respect from the United States and to do what the dictator with all his military might could not - evacuate the Shamsi airbase," wrote Bilawal.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2010
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