Bhutto husband on election and assassination probe

(1 Jan 2008) SHOTLIST
1. Various of Asif Ali Zardari, widowed husband of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, with mourners
2. SOUNDBITE (Urdu) Asif Ali Zardari, Bhutto's husband:
"So far, I have not been advised at an official level by any of the Pakistan People's Party (Bhutto's party) leaders with respect to any postponement of the elections. There have been informal discussions, but no official notification."
3. Cutaway of display case
4. SOUNDBITE (Urdu) Asif Ali Zardari, Bhutto's husband:
"If the government refuses our demand (for an international investigation into Bhutto's assassination), then we will directly approach the world powers in this regard."
5. Cutaway photograph of Bhutto
6. SOUNDBITE (Urdu) Asif Ali Zardari, Bhutto's husband:
"I will say that they (members of the US Congress) are in agreement with us. They are seasoned politicians, they understand our stance. They understand that what I am doing, and what the party is doing, is an important thing and is in the right direction. They understand that we want to defuse the prevailing public anger and sadness and turn it into a positive direction through the ballot. And we want to do this as, we say, like Bibi Sahiba (Bhutto) said, 'Democracy is the best revenge'."
7. Zardari with mourners
STORYLINE
The widowed husband of slain Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on Tuesday said he would approach world powers directly in order to establish an international investigation into his wife's assassination.
Asif Ali Zardari was speaking to AP Television from Bhutto's hometown of Naudero, in Pakistan's Sindh region.
Bhutto was killed in a suicide bomb and gun attack on Thursday.
On Sunday, Bhutto's political party named her 19-year-old son, Bilawal Zardari, as its symbolic leader and left day-to-day control to her husband,
extending Pakistan's most enduring political dynasty.
Despite being in mourning, Bhutto's party and that of Pakistan's other major opposition leader, want the polls held on time, perhaps sensing
electoral gains are possible amid sympathy at Bhutto's death and accusations that allies of President Pervez Musharraf were behind the killing.
The government has rejected the charges.
In the days following the assassination, clashes and rioting left at least 44 dead across Pakistan.
Zardari reiterated that he was keen for early elections to help heal the troubled nation, a decision that he felt was understood and supported by US politicians.
"They understand that we want to defuse the prevailing public anger and sadness and turn it into a positive direction through the ballot. And we want to do this as we say, like Bibi Sahiba (Bhutto) said - 'Democracy is the best revenge'," he told reporters on Tuesday.
About the issue of the timing of the elections, scheduled to take place on 8 January, he said: "So far I have not been advised at an official level by any of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leaders with respect to any postponement of elections."
Meanwhile, Bilawal Zardari and his two sisters left Pakistan for Dubai on Tuesday, airline officials said.
The three do not live in Pakistan and spend much of their time in Dubai.
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