World Notes PAKISTAN

As an ashen-faced Benazir Bhutto sat in the judge's chambers, hundreds of her supporters last week ransacked the courtroom in Lahore, where she was about to go on trial for corruption and abuse of power. Dozens of people, including police, were hurt during the two-hour riot; at one point, Bhutto was pulled into the crowd and collapsed.

Government supporters and Bhutto partisans blamed each other for inciting . the violence, which postponed the hearing into charges that the former Prime Minister sold government-protected land below market rates to a London firm possibly linked to a cousin. But if the protesters' goal was to delay proceedings until after parliamentary elections are held on Oct. 24, they were disappointed. Another hearing is scheduled for this week. If Bhutto is found guilty, she will be banned from running in the October elections and disqualified from holding office for up to seven years.