Jubilant Bhutto supporters fete vote, look to future

By Simon Gardner

LARKANA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Beating drums and whirling around camp fires in the streets, Benazir Bhutto supporters sang and danced through the early hours of Tuesday anticipating a posthumous election victory for their slain leader.

Bursts of gunfire rang out through the night in Bhutto's native southern district of Larkana as elated supporters of her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) celebrated what was almost certain to be a strong win in their party stronghold.

Bhutto's assassination while campaigning in the garrison of Rawalpindi on December 27 plunged Pakistan into a state of depression and torpedoed any remote chance President Pervez Musharraf had of resurrecting his popularity.

By late morning, the count nationwide showed the PPP nosing ahead of the party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, with the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League a distant third, Larkana residents were bustling back to work in shops and markets.

Some continued to party.

"Long live Bhutto!" bellowed 30-year-old unemployed PPP supporter Akhtiar Ali, leading a rag-tag group of two dozen youths and children marching through the street waving the party's red, green and black flag.

"Today is an important day, not just for Larkana, not just Sindh or Pakistan, but for the whole world!" he said. "Still the results are coming and we are waiting, but we hope for success. If Nawaz' party wins, then they are with us and we are happy."

Next to him, a young boy sucked on a shiny bullet casing recovered after one celebratory burst of gunfire overnight.