Conciliatory Bhutto widower urges Pakistani unity

By Zeeshan Haider

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The widower of assassinated Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto struck a conciliatory note on the eve of a general election, saying his party would form a broad-based government bringing in old foes if it won.

Opinion polls suggest Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) will emerge as the largest party in the 342-member lower house of parliament when Pakistanis vote on Monday.

But with none of the three main parties -- the PPP, the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League (PML) and Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) -- expected to secure a majority, a coalition government is seen as the likeliest outcome.

Bhutto's husband Asif Ali Zardari, who was made co-chairman of her party after her murder on Dec. 27, said he did not believe in the politics of vengeance and wanted to forge unity among all political forces.

"If God gives us a chance ... we will try to take all foes and friends together," Zardari said in a speech on Sunday at a ceremony for the launch of a newspaper at an Islamabad hotel.

"I think we have reached the breaking point where if we don't band together, we will lose this great nation which we call Pakistan," he said.

The increasingly unpopular Musharraf, a former army chief who seized power in a 1999 coup, could face a hostile assembly intent on removing him from power if the PPP and Sharif's party dominate the new parliament.

Any effort to get rid of Musharraf could spell more political turmoil in nuclear-armed Pakistan, which is on the front line of the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism.