Service Marking Zia’s Death Draws 100,000 Pakistanis : Memorial: The former military ruler’s son blames ousted leader Benazir Bhutto for the plane crash that killed his father. Police go on the alert.

About 100,000 Pakistanis, chanting slogans and carrying pictures of the late Gen. Zia ul-Haq, attended a prayer ceremony Friday to mark the second anniversary of the former president’s death in a mysterious plane crash.

After the ceremony, Zia’s son blamed ousted Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto for the 1988 plane crash that killed his father, a number of Pakistan’s senior military officers and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphael.

Ijaz ul-Haq, a 38-year-old banker, said that through “criminal negligence” Bhutto, her government and her Pakistan People’s Party “covered up any evidence.”

“The former prime minister and her ministers actually ridiculed the tragedy, provided cover to the criminals and shut the door on any investigation,” said Ijaz, speaking at a news conference after a brief memorial ceremony for his father. He provided no evidence to support his claims.

Neither Bhutto nor her spokesmen could be reached for comment, but they have dismissed similar allegations as baseless.

A technical inquiry found the crash of Zia’s C-130 plane was “probably” sabotage, but a criminal investigation was never conducted.

Ijaz called on the military-backed caretaker government that replaced Bhutto to open a new investigation into the crash.

Zia’s death cleared the way for the November, 1988, elections--the first open election in Pakistan since Zia took power in 1977--when Bhutto won a narrow majority to become the first female prime minister of an Islamic nation.

Bhutto’s own father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was overthrown by Zia in 1977 and hanged in 1979. She says Zia issued the execution order.

The anniversary of Zia’s death occurred less than two weeks after Bhutto’s government was dismissed on charges of corruption, nepotism and failing to control the violence in southern Sind province, where more than 600 people have died in ethnic unrest in recent months.

Bhutto charges that her ouster was a coup camouflaged by use of constitutional powers.

Caretaker Prime Minister Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi stayed away from Friday’s ceremony, preferring to remain in his home province of Sind.

New elections in Pakistan are scheduled for Oct. 24, but there has been speculation that they will be postponed and that another round of military rule is in the works. The military has ruled Pakistan for more than half its 43-year history.

Ijaz, a man of strong political ambitions, views the Oct. 24 elections as a contest between himself and Bhutto.

Named chief organizer of the Pakistan Muslim League earlier this month, Ijaz has threatened to create his own party if the league deviates from his father’s mission to Islamize Pakistan’s overwhelmingly Muslim population.

On Friday, about 3,000 policemen, many armed with batons, were on alert throughout Islamabad, the capital, as security was tightened to prevent violence between supporters of Bhutto’s political party and pro-Zia demonstrators.

The heavy security was an attempt to avoid a repetition of last year’s anniversary when government and opposition supporters pelted each other with stones.

During the ceremony, Ijaz promised to carry on Zia’s dream of wielding an Islamic federation stretching from the Soviet Central Asian republics to western China.

“The dream is being fulfilled--Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey,” Ijaz told the crowd, which was spread across the sprawling grounds of the Faisal Mosque, where his father is buried.

“A new movement, a new unity will start from here,” he said. “I swear by the grave of Zia ul-Haq.”

With the abrupt change of government and uncertainty over the future of democracy, many Pakistanis are remembering Zia’s military rule, despite its harshness, in a more favorable light.