Plans to Mix Marriage, Politics : Pakistan’s Bhutto Weds in Traditional Muslim Rites

Benazir Bhutto recited her wedding vows in a room separate from her groom as the Western-educated leader of Pakistan’s political opposition was married Friday in a traditional Muslim ceremony.

Supporters gathered outside her villa banged drums, chanted and fired guns into the air as Bhutto and businessman Asif Ali Zardari--the man selected for her by her mother--completed the rites.

Witnesses said a woman was killed by a stray bullet while watching the celebrations from a balcony opposite the reception ground. At least 10 other people were reportedly hurt in falls from trees and other perches during a rush to catch a glimpse of the 34-year-old bride, who apparently was unaware of the accidents.

Wearing a green silk and chiffon gown with red embroidery and a pink chiffon veil, Bhutto recited her vows in an enclosure hidden to the groom.

Zardari, 34, sporting a handlebar mustache and wearing a white turban, long shirt and loose trousers, said his vows, then was led to his bride. The clergyman held a mirror so the groom was the first to see her face.

The wedding was a private affair for family and close friends. It was followed by a garden reception for 1,000 invited guests.

Afterward, at a “people’s reception” in a poor section of Karachi, a crowd of more than 50,000 cheered and sang as the couple climbed on a stage decorated with red roses and yellow marigolds and sat in thrones of red velvet.

Before the wedding, Bhutto met with Western journalists. Dressed in a white embroidered gown, her hands and feet bore ink patterns from a traditional, women-only ceremony the night before.

The Harvard- and Oxford-educated Bhutto insisted that her role as a married woman would not interfere with her goal of ending the 10-year rule of President Zia ul-Haq.

“I haven’t given myself away. I belong to myself and I always shall,” she said.

But the opposition leader said that her fiance wanted a large family and that she would make a “political calculation” of when to have children based on her campaign to remove Zia and possibly run for prime minister in the next election.

The marriage was arranged by the two families in the traditional manner, but Bhutto said she had also deliberately departed from tradition to keep the wedding simple.

She had insisted that the groom’s family provide her with only two dresses, instead of up to 51 as is common in Pakistan. She cut down on her jewelry and insisted that her family pay no dowry.