With Pakistan Reeling, Bhutto Is Buried


UPDATE: The NYT is reporting that hundreds of thousands of emotional mourners bade farewell Friday to Benazir Bhutto, a former prime minister and one of the most iconic figures in Pakistani politics, who was buried in her ancestral village a day after being assassinated at an election rally.

As Ms. Bhutto was buried in the midst of a chaotic but peaceful crowd, violence continued to flare across the country and the political situation remained deeply uncertain.

Supporters of Ms. Bhutto went on rampages in several cities, torching cars and stores and ransacking banks in street violence that claimed at least 10 lives, news wires reported. The government ordered paramilitary forces in Ms. Bhutto’s southern home province of Sindh to shoot rioters on sight.

A senior government official said there were no immediate plans to postpone the parliamentary elections scheduled for Jan. 8, which are intended to restore democracy after eight years of military dictatorship. Ms. Bhutto, as the leader of the country’s largest political party, would have been a front runner in the contest; she has no clear successor within the party she tightly controlled.

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