Zardari stops release of Bhutto assassination report

"Zardari barred Malik from presenting the report at a meeting of the Central Executive Committee of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party that was held on Benazir's fifth death anniversary on Thursday.

"The move came in the wake of an increase in differences between Zardari and Malik," the Urdu newspaper Daily Express quoted its sources as saying.

The president issued instructions to Malik not to make the report public just hours before the PPP held a rally outside the Bhutto family mausoleum at Garhi Khuda Bux in Sindh on Thursday.

Malik had earlier told the media about his intention to make the report public.

Bhutto was assassinated by a suicide bomber after addressing an election rally in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007.

The report said Malik wanted to present the report at the meeting of the PPP's central executive committee.

He even suggested that PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari should launch his political career by revealing the report, sources told the daily.

Bilawal, who is expected to lead the PPP's campaign for next year's general election, formally launched his political career by addressing the massive rally at Garhi Khuda Bux. (MORE)