By Faisal Aziz
GARHI KHUDA BAKSH, Pakistan (Reuters) - The husband ofmurdered Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto used theclimax of a 40-day Muslim mourning period to vow that he wouldrisk assassination to win a posthumous election victory for hislate wife.
"If I am martyred before completing the mission of BenazirBhutto, then I should also be buried here," Asif Ali Zardarisaid in a speech on Thursday to thousands of mourners gatheredoutside a white marble mausoleum in his wife's ancestralvillage.
Pakistan votes for a new parliament and provincial assemblyin an election that was delayed until February 18 afterBhutto's assassination in the garrison town of Rawalpindi onDecember 27.
While not a presidential election, the outcome could haveserious consequences for U.S. ally President Pervez Musharraf,who came to power as a general in a coup in 1999 and is nowgoing through his most unpopular period.
Zardari, who a day earlier scotched talk that he wanted tobecome prime minister, has not said whether he favoured workingwith or against Musharraf should the Pakistan People's Partyride a wave of sympathy to victory in the vote later thismonth.
The PPP's likely choice for the premiership is its deputychairman, Makhdoom Amin Fahim.
LAST GOODBYE
About 20,000 people gathered in the village of Garhi KhudaBaksh to pay their last respects to the most charismaticPakistani politician of the past 20 years.
Chants of Koranic verses and sombre hymns filled the chillymorning air in the dusty village set amid paddy fields in arural backwater of southern Sindh province.
Before Zardari could enter the tomb, hordes of peopleforced their way inside chanting "Long Live Bhutto", someweeping and beating their heads in grief.
"This is the fight between establishment and the people,"Zardari said in a speech imploring Pakistanis to vote for PPP.
Moments earlier he had prayed at the rose petal strewngrave in the mausoleum where Bhutto lies alongside her father,Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan's first popularly elected primeminister.
Her father was toppled and hanged by the military in thelate 1970s, but the PPP still draws on his populist appeal.
"Zulfikar Ali Bhutto laid down his life for his mission andso did his daughter. I myself and the party will take forwardthis mission," said Zardari, who spent eight years in jail butwas never convicted of corruption charges he says werepolitically motivated.
Conspiracy theories still swirl over who was behind the gunand suicide bomb attack that killed Bhutto.
Controversy even rages over whether Bhutto was killed by abullet or by a concussive head injury caused by the bombdetonated after an assassin shot at her from close range.
Police have arrested two more suspects in connection withher death, the interior minister said on Thursday.
"Right now, I can only say that two suspects have beenapprehended in this connection," Hamid Nawaz told Reuters.
Two others, including a 15-year-old youth who admittedbeing a back-up suicide bomber, were arrested last month.
The government and the Central Intelligence Agency suspectthe involvement of a Pakistani Taliban commander with links toal Qaeda, which they say is trying to destabilise nuclear-armedPakistan.
But, a poll conducted by Gallup Pakistan found that almosthalf of all Pakistanis believe government agencies orpoliticians allied to Musharraf were involved in Bhutto'sassassination.
A British police team that the government invited toinvestigate is expected to submit its report on Friday,according to Pakistani media.
LEGACY
The PPP named Bhutto's 19-year-old son, Bilawal BhuttoZardari as party chairman and Zardari as co-chairman, inaccordance with a will Bhutto wrote just before she returned toPakistan in October, eight years after being hounded out.
Oxford University student, Bilawal, has said he planned topursue his mother's legacy after completing his studies, andneither he or his two sisters were at the graveside onThursday.
Huge portraits of Bhutto hung alongside the red, green andblack tricolour of the PPP in and around the tomb.
"The entire Bhutto family has rendered sacrifices for thiscountry. It's our responsibility that we should support and paytribute to this great family," said Majid Soomro, a farmer inhis late 40s, who had come from a nearby village.
(Writing by Zeeshan Haider; Editing by Simon Cameron-Mooreand David Fogarty)
