With just two weeks to the general elections, a muted campaign is set to hot up with Asif Ali Zardari taking to the stump for the first time. He will battle for votes, after the 40-day mourning period on Thursday, for the February 18 polls.
Campaigning has been almost non-existent with the only sign of activity being the colourful political banners that hang in towns and villages.
"Candidates are conducting their own electioneering in their constituencies but the co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari will start the election campaign from February 7 after the Chehlum," spokesman Farhatullah Babar told AFP. "There is lot of frustration, and tempo (of the campaign) is very slow. From one point of view it is not good but then from another angle the sympathy element is very strong," he said.
Zardari's first major engagement is a public meeting on February 9 in Thatha, party official Qaim Ali Shah said. "He is also likely to hold a rally in Karachi before heading off to Punjab," he added.
Western diplomats have warned of possible unrest at events to mark the end of mourning for Benazir. But the political scene has been eerily quiet since her death.
Opposition parties say the government of President Pervez Musharraf is talking of the threat to candidates in a bid to stifle electioneering ahead of the vote. Rallies have been sparse after the government issued a "security advisory" for candidates to avoid big gatherings. Even the Pakistan Muslim League-Q, which backs Musharraf, has kept a relatively low profile.
Interior ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema said the threat was genuine and that authorities were making "foolproof security arrangements for politicians who face threats from terrorism".
"Political parties have been advised to eschew large rallies and processions and restrict their public meetings at specified venues," Cheema told AFP. "These precautionary measures are the need of the hour in view of terrorist attacks including the assassination of major national leader Benazir Bhutto." Police in Karachi said last week they had smashed a plot by an al Qaeda-linked extremist group to disrupt election rallies.
A spokesman for PML-N (party of Nawaz Sharif) said they had other fears. "After the assassination of Benazir Bhutto the government says we have to be very careful and Nawaz Sharif is on the hit list also," Siddiqul Farooq told AFP. "Whereas we feel that Nawaz Sharif faces no threat from the masses, or from anyone else, except retired General Pervez Musharraf and the PML-Q leadership and their few loyalists in the (intelligence) agencies," he added.
Farooq said that the security measures were "affecting the election campaign". "The momentum should pick up once the PPP leadership joins in, but normal and customary election campaign will still not be observed," he said.