REPORTER: DAVID O'SHEA
This is the Bhutto family mausoleum in the rural south of Pakistan. Since Benazir Bhutto's assassination last year, tens of thousands of people have made the pilgrimage to her grave. Some of these mourners have walked hundreds of kilometres to get here. She lies next to her revered father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistan People's Party, or PPP. He was executed in 1979 by the military ruler of the day. Bhutto's death has left the country and its largest political party in turmoil. Her successor is Asif Ali Zardari, her controversial husband, who may be prime minister soon, but can't see beyond the tragedy.
ASIF ALI ZARDARI, CO - CHAIRMAN, PPP: I think every moment and every part of my life is just trying to cope with the situation I am in. I am just not thinking very far ahead. I am just taking every minute as it comes, every hour as it comes.
As the grieving continues, the struggle for democracy goes on. Pakistan's lawyers have been leading the charge to oust President Musharraf ever since he put the Chief Justice under house arrest and sacked most of the nation's top judges. The Islamabad Bar Association has called a meeting to decide their next move.
SPEAKER, (Translation): My friend the Joint Secretary was saying that the Chief Justice's water supply has been cut off. Espionage has been revived. Besides that, his electricity and gas have been cut. Do you strongly condemn this?
HAROON RASHID, ISLAMABAD BAR ASSOCIATION: ll the reinstatement of the judges who have been deposed and it will continue with full enthusiasm and full courage and full power.
REPORTER: Whatever the risk?
HAROON RASHID: Whatever the risk.
Haroon Rashid is the President of the Islamabad Bar Association.
HAROON RASHID: We are not hesitating from this situation. We will fight in the interest of the nation and in the interest of country and the judiciary and the constitution.
He says General Musharraf has trampled on the constitution by reinstalling himself as President and stacking the courts with compliant judges.
HAROON RASHID: He knew he would not be allowed to contest election of the presidency so he once again imposed emergency on 3 November and he removed all the judges of the superior courts illegally and unconstitutionally and the persons who have no knowledge of the law became the judges of the High Court and the Supreme Court.
Some of the more militant lawyers even want the ultimate punishment for Musharraf's hand-picked judges.
LAWYER,(Translation): Hang the traitors! Hang them! Hang them! Those who sell out for money, those who betray their office, hang them! Hang them! Those who betray history, hang them! Hang them! Those of you who don't call for hanging are also traitors!
But not everyone here agrees.
FEMALE LAWYER, (Translation): I am not calling for hanging and I am not a traitor.
Political scientist Rasul Bakhsh Rais says he understands the lawyers' rage.
RASUL BAKHSH RAIS, POLITICAL SCIENTIST: I don't think it is any less than a constitutional farce and an insult to the people of this country. If he can disband the judiciary, send 80% of judges of Supreme Court and High Court of the country home, dismiss them, disqualify them and pack the courts with his favourites and suspend the constitution twice, why would he not rig the elections? This is a question of the record and every by - election in t his country, including the referendum, where he received 98.3% of popular votes, a joke in the country, so why would he not rig the elections?
CROWD (Translation): Go, Musharraf! Go!
Their meeting decides to continue the boycott of Musharraf's stacked courts.
LAWYER: We shall continue the strike until we meet all our objectives.
REPORTER: So that was unanimous?
LAWYER: It was unanimous. Today you have seen that not a single word has come contra it. We shall continue the strike in the Supreme Court and High Court.
LAWYER: Pervez Musharraf is a terrorist against Pakistanis, against Muslims, against judges, against civil community.
CROWD (Translation): Go, Musharraf! Go!
Three days later the lawyers decide to march on the Chief Justice's residence, where he is being kept under house arrest. They are joined by colleagues from seven other bar associations, and they are expecting trouble. The demonstration quickly turns ugly and the air soon swirls with tear gas.
PROTESTER, (Translation): Musharraf is a dog! Come back everyone! Come back! Come back and wash out your eyes. The rule of gun and baton will not prevail in Pakistan. It will not prevail!
As the lawyers retreat, they are hit by more tear gas. Amidst the crowd I see Roedad Khan, a retired bureaucrat who seems too old to be in a skirmish like this.
ROEDAD KHAN, RETIRED BUREAUCRAT: It is not acceptable to the people of Pakistan, the Chief Justice is in jail. Here they come now, look!
As the lawyers are pushed back, I see the Islamabad Bar Association president Haroon Rashid, stranded between police and his colleagues.
ROEDAD KHAN: We got cut off before.
REPORTER: What were you trying to tell me?
ROEDAD KHAN: He is a usurper. He does not derive his authority from the people of Pakistan. He is unelected, he is illegitimate, he is illegal, unconstitutional. He has no authority to rule the 160 million people of Pakistan. He has to go, he has to go there is no doubt about that.
Many here are outraged at the West's support for Musharraf.
ROEDAD KHAN: You are on the wrong side of history. You are all on the wrong side of history. You must be with the people of Pakistan, not with the usurper, not with the military dictator.
While protesters battle it out on the streets, Bhutto's party is preoccupied with honouring her memory at services like this.
SHERRY REHMAN, CENTRAL INFORMATION SECRETARY PPP: She was everybody's sister, she was everybody's daughter, she was everybody's leader, and that kind of love from the people you cannot buy from a slush fund.
The party called 40 days of mourning after her death so there has been no real political campaign.
SHERRY REHMAN: The time for mourning is not over for us, so bear with us if we stumble on the way. We are trying to pick up where she left off.
MAN, (Translation): She lives on! Madam lives on!
Everyone expects a large sympathy vote in next week's poll. It will never be known whether Benazir could have won. If she had, there was no guarantee she would have been effective. As prime minister twice before, her family did little to help the poor. But here the true believers would disagree.
WOMAN, (Translation): There's no-one to look after the poor now. I cannot bear it any more, I want it to be over. We want to die too.
With an election imminent, the party's office in the capital, Islamabad, should be buzzing with activity by now, but I find only the caretaker, Sain Taj.
SAIN TAG, CARETAKER (Translation): Darkness has descended, everywhere. I can't imagine what will happen. Only Allah above knows. The party workers feel they have totally lost their way. They're confused. All the party supporters are going crazy about what has happened.
The caretaker's beloved party is no longer led by a Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari is a potentially divisive figure. When his wife was prime minister, he was known as Mr 10% for receiving kickbacks from government projects. The former playboy, spent 11 years in jail for what he says were trumped-up corruption charges.
REPORTER: And you are convinced that you are the right man for the job to take the party forward now?
ASIF ALI ZARDARI: She was convinced, the party is convinced. I think I will stand up and be counted.
Zardari knows the power of the Bhutto name, so he made their 19-year-old son Bilawal co-chair of the party. But it will be another six years before Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is even able to enter politics here, so for the moment his father is in the hot seat.
REPORTER: I have spoken to party workers who have said they are willing to put their lives on the line for your son, but I haven't heard them saying that about you.
ASIF ALI ZARDARI: Well, I am hoping they will not need to do it for anyone. The idea is to make a Pakistan where nobody has to put their life in the aid of democracy, but I welcome their sentiments for my son and I welcome their commitment to democracy. It just shows how committed the people of Pakistan are for democracy. Whether it is for my son or for her, the fact that they are committed to democracy is what is important here.
The 40-day mourning period has now ended. But there was only ever going to be one plan for the PPP, rely heavily on photos and images of the Bhutto martyrs.
RASUL BAKHSH RAIS: The image is the only thing the Pakistan People's Party has today. If you remove Benazir Bhutto and her father from the campaign, what is left? Mr Zardari? And I don't think he is charismatic or has a good reputation in the country. He has primarily been lucky to be at the right time in Pakistani history and the right place and the right family, and that is what will benefit him, but I think if there is to be any benefit it is going to be temporary. I don't think the Pakistan Peoples Party has anything left with Benazir Bhutto gone.
Although there is an overwhelming mood here that Musharraf should stand aside, he remains a powerful political force. The parliament is stacked with his supporters and he's even influential in poor areas like this. These people have been squatting here on government land for 11 years, starting off in tents. They say this government has looked after their interests. In the run-up to the election without a campaign, the governing party has been making well-targeted promises. They are putting in retaining walls and the telephone line, and even something for the kids.
MAN, (Translation): The government is allotting us this land for our children's playground.
The election promises are clearly having the required effect in this marginal electorate. And this year, the party has played its trump card and is promising people here title to their homes.
REPORTER: Some people might say this is vote-rigging, buying votes?
MAN, (Translation): The education of our children, all the conveniences we get, they lead to our happiness. They established hospitals for us, you know. They started schools. How could we vote for anyone other than Musharraf?
Vote-buying may be one thing but Rais says the whole electoral system has been rorted.
RASUL BAKHSH RAIS: The judiciary, which ultimately is going to decide on the eligibility of candidates, is not fair and independent. And, secondly, the person who holds the office of chief election commissioner in Pakistan is not independent of the wishes of the President.
I was told the Chief Election Commissioner does not give interviews, but his deputy does.
REPORTER: I read today that a Gallup poll says only 15% of Pakistani people believe that the election will be free and fair. Why do you think there is so much mistrust?
KANWAR DILSHAD, ELECTION COMMISSION OF PAKISTAN: No, no, no. In Pakistan, the Gallup poll research is not so authenticated. They are imaginary, so we don't read this such kind of Gallup poll.
As for a damning report from the National Democratic Institute that says blackmail, intimidation and pre-poll rigging is rampant.
KANWAR DILSHAD: The country director that wrote the NDI is a friend of mine. All election-related issues which are being issued by her, is based on the imaginary.
REPORTER: What about the fact that many of the judges are under house arrest, and the Supreme Court?
KANWAR DILSHAD: No, no, no.
REPORTER: I haven't even asked my question.
KANWAR DILSHAD: The Electoral Commission of Pakistan does not come under the purview.
REPORTER: But will it affect the running of the election?
KANWAR DILSHAD: No, no, no.
REPORTER: Yesterday I met the President of the Islamabad Bar Association, who said that this office has no credibility whatsoever.
KANWAR DILSHAD: That is all imaginary talk and we could not say anything. The Electoral Commission of Pakistan is a purely constitutional organisation party, run by the head chief election commissioner.
REPORTER: He says the chief is..
KANWAR DILSHAD: Very, very independent, no compromise. This is the independent electoral commission of Pakistan, just like in any other democratic country. We are more independent than the American chief electoral commissioner.
REPORTER: Why are you laughing?
KANWAR DILSHAD: My colleague is laughing, because we are very independent. We are very much threatening by your point of view. We are independent. How can you challenge that you are not independent? We are the independent election commission.
REPORTER: I am only quoting you what people are telling me.
KANWAR DILSHAD: I am telling you No, no, no.
Nawaz Sharif is the other contender for the prime minister's job.
REPORTER: Sir, will the elections be free and fair?
NAWAZ SHARIF, CHAIRMAN, PML-N PARTY: No. They fired the first shot by rejecting my nomination papers, will you call them free and fair elections.
REPORTER: Sir what will you do?
NAWAZ SHARIF: We will resist to the last, the last day. We will continue the struggle against dictatorial rule of ruling the country.
Like Benazir, Nawaz Sharif is from a powerful clan and has also been prime minister before but was overthrown by Musharraf in a coup. While the rival PPP is still in shock, Nawaz Sharif has plans for the future.
NAWAZ SHARIF, (Translation): What will happen is Mr Musharraf will step down. The new chairman of the Senate will be in charge. Other steps will be finalised. There'll be new presidential elections. The judiciary will be restored and they will make rulings. It will happen.
RASUL BAKHSH RAIS: I think the assumption is that Mr Musharraf would not be around. No-one knows how he will be out of the power. The other thing is that Nawaz seems to be interested in democratic transition at the moment and he is emerging as a statesman, not rather as a power-hungry politician. He doesn't want to be depicted in that light.
REPORTER: Which is how he was remembered, is it?
RASUL BAKHSH RAIS: Yes.
KANWAR DILSHAD: The country has been under a dictatorship for over eight years. The constitution has been changed, changed beyond recognition. All Pakistan's national institutions have been ruined, there's no doubt about it. The judicial system has been crushed. Judges are under house arrest. I don't think anything like this has happened in any country, let alone a civilised one.
Pakistan faces a critical moment in its turbulent history. This complex nation combines Shia and Sunni, the secular and the fundamental, feudal warlords and Oxford-educated elites. Meanwhile, President Musharraf supports the US and its war on terror, where most of the Pakistani people do not. Whichever party wins next week will need to juggle these competing forces, which some say threaten to tear the nation apart...
REPORTER: If the PPP does win this election, can you explain to me how you plan to balance the different interest groups in this complicated country?
ASIF ALI ZARDARI: By making across-the-board large coalition with us. The idea is to share power with anybody and everybody, and then collectively take decisions, because the problems and the issues are so deep that that unless we don't have collective wisdom and unless we don't have all the folds of the society with us we will not be able to solve the problems.
RASUL BAKHSH RAIS: I think this is a new thinking taking very deep root in Pakistan across the political divide. The time has come that the mainstream political parties must work together and form a political consensus for the next five years so that we have stability and they tackle those issues and then they will have an election.
Credits
Reporter/Camera
DAVID O'SHEA
Editors
WAYNE LOVE
NICK O'BRIEN
Producers
GEOFF PARISH
ASHLEY SMITH
Fixer
IRSHAD RAO
Subtitling
KUMUD MERANI
Original Music composed by
VICKI HANSEN