AFP - Pakistan's president pledged Saturday to protect the country from rising fundamentalism as he addressed a crowd at the tomb of his slain wife and father-in-law.
  
"People around the world say that our country will disintegrate," Asif Ali Zadari told thousands of people who gathered to mark the 30th anniversary of the death of his father-in-law, former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
  
"Some say that fundamentalists will rule the country, but we will not let it happen as long as we are alive," he said outside the five-domed mausoleum where his wife, Benazir Bhutto, and father-in-law are buried.
  
The US has put Pakistan at the heart of the fight against Al-Qaeda, declaring its border with Afghanistan the most dangerous place in the world for Americans.
  
Extremists opposed to Pakistan's decision to side with the US in its "war on terror" have perpetrated bombings and other attacks that have killed more than 1,700 people in less than two years.
  
Zardari spoke during overnight rituals to mark the 1979 hanging of his charismatic father-in-law on charges of murder, two years after military ruler Ziaul Haq ousted him from power.
  
Benazir Bhutto, also a former prime minister, was assassinated while campaigning for the post after returning from exile in 2007.
  
It was Zardari's first public appearance at the tomb at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh, in the southern province of Sindh, since he became head of state last September, voted in on a wave of sympathy following his wife's death in December 2007.
  
Security fears restrict Zardari's public appearances and the president did not attend the public gathering for the first anniversary of her death.
  
In contrast to the grassroots popularity of his wife and the huge respect still commanded by his father-in-law -- widely considered the most visionary of Pakistan's prime ministers -- Zardari's popularity ratings are at rock bottom.
  
Thousands of police and paramilitary troops deployed around the mausoleum and Larkana, the hometown of the wealthy Bhutto political dynasty.
  
Supporters of the Pakistan People's Party, which Bhutto senior founded, came from across the country to pay homage to their late leader, dancing, singing and beating their chests in a traditional sign of mourning.
  
A five-minute silence was observed at 2:12am (21:12 GMT Friday), the time at which Bhutto was hanged.