THATTA (Pakistan) - THE widower of slain Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto hit the campaign trail Saturday for the first major party rally since the former prime minister's assassination in December.

Thousands of people were gathering at Thatta, a rural town in Bhutto's home province of Sindh, amid tight security following 40 days of mourning since she was killed in Rawalpindi.

Her successor, Asif Ali Zardari, vowed to complete her mission to establish democracy when mourning ended on Thursday with large crowds at a ceremony around Bhutto's grave in the ancestral village of Khari Khuda Baksh.

Pakistan People's Party (PPP) guards were also on hand to protect the gathering to be followed by similar public meetings attended by Zardari across the country including the most populous central Punjab province.

'There is no specific militant threat for this meeting but we are not taking any chances,' Thatta police chief Daud Junejo said.

Banners proclaiming 'long live Bhutto, 'democracy is the best revenge', and the tri-colour PPP flags were festooned all around the spacious ground as caravans of party supporters continued to arrive from afar.

Life-size portraits of Bhutto, who was killed on December 27 in a gun and suicide attack after an election rally in Rawalpindi city near the capital Islamabad, hung around the ground.

The meeting takes place just little more than a week before the nation goes to polls to elect a parliament and four provincial assemblies.

The vote is seen as crucial to political stability in the key US ally in the war against terror.

The murder of the country's main leader stunned electioneering and sparked widespread unrest after which the elections were delayed and rescheduled for February 18.

The PPP has rejected a report released on Friday by Britain's Scotland Yard police that Bhutto was killed by the force of a suicide bomb and not gunfire.

The British report backed the Pakistan government's account of how she died.

Bhutto's party insists that the two-time former premier was slain by a bullet and reiterated calls for a United Nations inquiry into her murder.

Emotions have run high in Sindh, the second largest province after Punjab, since the killing of the charismatic party leader. The sentiments were echoed in Thatta by party loyalists.

'We reject this Scotland Yard report. It is influenced by Mr Musharraf who wants to mislead the world,' 32-year old labourer Maula Buksh told AFP.

A retired school teacher Mr Jaffar Jokhio said the West just wanted to save Mr Musharraf and would go to any lengths to do so.

'We know the government agencies were involved in the attack on our leader,' he said.

Bhutto devotees asserted they would ensure the PPP's success in the election for the redemption of their slain leader mission to bring about democracy and rights for the people.

Rallies have been sparse since Bhutto's death and after the government issued a 'security advisory' for candidates to avoid big gatherings.

Even the former ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q party, which backs Mr Musharraf, has kept a relatively low profile. -- AFP

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