Benazir laid to rest, Pak erupts in unrest | Details

THE BURNING TRAIN: A passenger train which was set on fire by angry protesters in Larkana, Pak.

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New Delhi: Her coffin wrapped in the flag of the Pakistan People's Party, former Pakistan president Benazir Bhutto was laid to rest on Friday at Gharri Khuda Baksh, the Bhutto family mausoleum in Sindh.

She was buried next to the grave of her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the man she always saw as her political inspiration.

No leaders were invited for the last rites. Nawaz Sharif was politely advised to put off his plans to attend the burial as it was a strictly family ceremony.

That family included lakhs of her party supporters who descended on the mausoleum, helping with local arrangements, providing security, determined that her last farewell would be one befitting Pakistan's most illustrious political dynasty.

The peace and calm displayed at Gharri Khuda Baksh was in sharp contrast to the anger and fury visible in other parts of Pakistan. Trains and buses were torched, mobs battled police in the streets of Karachi, Lahore and Hyderabad.

But Sindh was the worst affected. At the last count, 23 deaths reported in police firing and random acts of violence and many were injured.

Army was deployed in parts of Sindh and many police stations and posts were shut down, unable to handle the mobs that threatened to storm them.

Two hundred banks were burnt; from Peshawar to Quetta and Multan, rampaging armed groups appeared to have taken control of the streets. The military spokesman later acknowledged that requests for army help was increasing. General Headquarters in Rawalpindi sounded a high alert throughout the country.