Massive security preparations surrounded the family mausoleum of Benazir Bhutto on Tuesday as villagers awaited a visit by the former Pakistani premier, officials said. Benazir's travel plans have been under wraps since Thursday. Her party said there were threats to target Benazir again whenever she visits Larkana.
"There are some threats that she received from many elements that she can be targeted another time in Larkana or Karachi," Pakistan People's Party deputy district information secretary Mashooque Ali Jatoi told AFP. He would not say when Benazir, currently in Karachi, would travel, citing security reasons, but she has pledged to visit Larkana.
"Besides the government's measures, the party workers will also be present to protect and give security to Mohtarma," he said inside the giant Taj Mahal-style mausoleum in the village of Ghari Khuda Baksh.
Shafqat Soomro, a local mayor and party member involved in the security preparations, said officials were ready "at any time" for the arrival of Benazir from Karachi, some 500 kilometres (310 miles) further south. He said that if and when Benazir comes to the mosque it would be a "surprise visit" in which she would pray at the tombs of her relatives.
The site is also the resting place of Benazir's two brothers - Shahnawaz, who died of poisoning in the south of France in 1987, and Murtaza, shot dead in Karachi in 1996. Surrounded by flat, dusty fields and palm trees, the mausoleum is the heart and soul of Benazir's party and has been renovated for the occasion.
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