The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Karachi

There is an eerie quiet at Benazir Bhutto's Karachi home-cum-campaign headquarters where grief is giving way to hope that her legacy will live on through her son and heir.

Crowned her political successor on Sunday, Bhutto's 19-year-old son Bilawal will not be eligible to run for parliament for another six years, but banker and party stalwart Haseeb Ala can wait.

"Truly, Benazir left a great vacuum," said Ala, 48, sitting under an awning outside the towering fortress-like walls of the Karachi home Bhutto named after her only son.

"But the Bhutto name is a legacy. It's a binding force, because of their sacrifice. He is the future."