New Delhi: Benazir Bhutto launched her election campaign in the north western city of Peshawar on Saturday.
She launched the campaign a day after unveiling her party's platform despite calls from other opposition groups to boycott the January 8 vote.
Surrounded by armed guards and seated in a bulletproof vehicle Benazir was driven to Peshawar from Islamabad with a police escort.
She was greeted by hundreds of flag-waving supporters of her Pakistan People's Party who chanted "Long Live Benazir!"
She will be meeting local leaders of her party to fine-tune their strategy for the January polls.
"I ask our Pashtun brothers to come forward for peace. They have supported the Pakistan People's Party in the past and once again they must support the Pakistan People's Party," she said.
Bhutto, a two-time prime minister whose return to Pakistan from exile in October was targeted by suicide bombers, is the first major political leader to launch a campaign since President Pervez Musharraf quit his army post and became a civilian leader this past week.
Peshawar is a hotbed of Islamic activity and the Pakistani Army is locked in a deadly conflict with Islamic militants along the Afghan frontier and in the Swat valley.
Bhutto, whose pro-Western outlook also could make her unpopular among Pashtun voters, made her first stop at the home of a party activist to express condolences over the recent death of his father. Dozens of police, some with metal detectors, guarded the area, and commandos with rifles were positioned on rooftops.
Her campaign platform also promises more money for education, health and environmental protection, and cheap loans to help small businesses create jobs.
(With agency inputs)
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