By Faisal Aziz
The body of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto arrived in her family village for burial on Friday, hours after her assassination plunged nuclear-armed Pakistan into one of the worst crises in its 60-year history.
Her killing on Thursday after an election rally in the city of Rawalpindi triggered a wave of violence, especially in her native Sindh province.
It stoked fears that a January 8 election meant to return Pakistan to civilian rule could be put off, although caretaker Prime Minister Mohammadmian Soomro said on Friday there was no change in timing for now.
World leaders urged Pakistan not to be deflected from a course toward democracy, as fears of instability in a region racked by Islamist militancy roiled markets on Friday and triggered a flight to less risky assets such as bonds and gold.
"Unrest in Pakistan is eroding the market sentiment dramatically as Pakistan, unlike North Korea or Iran, is known to really have nuclear weapons," said Koichi Ogawa, chief portfolio manager at Daiwa SB Investments.
Thousands of mourners thronged Bhutto's ancestral home as the former prime minister's body arrived aboard a military aircraft, accompanied by husband Asif Ali Zardari and their three children.
People cried and wailed as Bhutto's coffin was taken by ambulance to her family home in Sindh's Larkana district.
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