Rezaul H Laskar

Islamabad: With the assassination of its charismatic leader Benazir Bhutto, the PPP is in a quandary as to who would lead the country's largest political party which has traditionally banked on her family.

There is no clear indication as to who would step in to head the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) which does not have any leaders with the same grassroots appeal as Bhutto.

Questions about finding her successor arose soon after Bhutto, the two-prime minister, was shot dead by a suicide attacker after she addressed a rally in nearby Rawalpindi on Thursday.

The names of Bhutto's trusted aide Makhdoom Amin Fahim, her husband Asif Ali Zardari and senior lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan as her successor are doing the rounds.

The party, however, is stunned by the sudden development that no decision on leadership issue is even being contemplated at the moment.

The PPP has traditionally banked on the Bhutto family for its leadership. Benazir Bhutto had herself stepped in to fill the void created by the execution of her father, former prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who was hanged after a controversial trial conducted by the military regime of General Zia-ul-Haq in 1979.

Source : PTI