India did not send anybody to Benazir funeral at Pak request

New Delhi, Dec 28 (UNI) India was ready to depute External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee to represent the country at the funeral of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto who was assassinated yesterday and laid to rest in Larkana today.

However, it was at the request of Pakistan authorities that nobody was sent as it would have meant additional security problems for them in view of the current turmoil in that country, official sources said today.

''We wanted to send(someone). They told us that it is a matter of security...The External Affairs Minister had to go,'' the sources added.

Asked whether anybody would go there tomorrow, the sources said that so far there had been no word from Pakistan or Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) whether any function would be held tomorrow.

No decision had been taken so far, the sources said.

UNI