Pakistan to delay vote by at least four weeks: officials

http://news.smh.com.au/pakistan-to-delay-vote-by-at-least-four-weeks-officials/20071231-1jnq.html

Pakistan will delay parliamentary elections by at least four weeks after a wave of violence triggered by the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, senior government officials told AFP on Monday.

The election commission said it would make its announcement on Tuesday after assessing the security situation in the country, which has seen previous elections marred by bloodshed and allegations of widespread vote-rigging.

The January 8 vote was intended to be the final step in completing the transition to civilian-led democracy under President Pervez Musharraf, a close ally of the United States, which is pushing for "free and fair" elections.

Opposition parties including that of Bhutto, who was killed at a campaign rally on Thursday, have sharply criticised Musharraf over her death and gone back and forth on whether they would accept a postponement.

"We will make an announcement on Tuesday morning," election commission spokesman Kanwar Dilshad told AFP. He declined to give the length of the delay, which was confirmed by three senior officials.

A cabinet official said it would be at least a month, after election offices were ransacked and voter lists burnt in the wave of unrest that shook Pakistan following Bhutto's killing.

The opposition boycotted the vote in October when Musharraf was controversially re-elected as president, and a parliament opposed to him could stage a no-confidence vote or otherwise undermine his legitimacy.

Public anger has mounted since the interior ministry on Friday denied that Bhutto's attacker, clearly seen in videos firing a gun at her from close range, had hit her. It instead said she died banging her head on her car's sunroof.

Bhutto's party, which on Sunday named her teenaged son Bilawal to take over as chairman, has demanded a UN probe into her death -- something a senior government official said was out of the question.

The assassination of Bhutto, a pro-Western politician whose family dynasty has a huge popular following, plunged the nation into turmoil that left at least 58 people dead and caused tens of millions of US dollars in damage.

Three days of national mourning ended Monday, and life slowly returned to normal as petrol stations, banks, pharmacies and restaurants re-opened, providing relief for tens of millions of Pakistanis.

But the world's only nuclear-armed Islamic nation still continued to feel the aftershocks from Bhutto's murder.

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Pakistan coalition partners thrash out PM choice

http://news.smh.com.au/pakistan-coalition-partners-thrash-out-pm-choice/20080222-1ts7.html

Pakistan's two biggest opposition parties sought to thrash out their choice for premier Friday after agreeing to form a coalition government that could drive President Pervez Musharraf from power.

Ex-premier Nawaz Sharif and the widowed husband of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto said their parties, once bitter rivals, would join forces after trouncing Musharraf's allies in elections earlier in the week.

Officials in both parties said the most likely choice as prime minister was Makhdoom Amin Fahim, the widely respected vice president of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

The proposed alliance between the parties brings them nearer the two-thirds majority they would need to seek Musharraf's impeachment, leaving him in the most precarious position since he seized power in a 1999 coup.

Neither Zardari nor Sharif are immediately eligible to be premier because they are not MPs -- Sharif was barred from standing, and Bhutto's husband did not do so because his wife was still alive when nomination papers were filed.

Either of the men could still contest upcoming by-elections for seats left vacant by candidates who stood -- and won -- in two constituencies at the same time.

But there remain questions over whether their coalition will press for the former general's immediate ouster from office, and whether they will seek to restore Pakistan's deposed chief justice.

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Al-Qaeda accused of killing Bhutto

http://news.smh.com.au/alqaeda-accused-of-killing-bhutto/20080302-1w7n.html

Pakistani police formally accused the top Taliban leader in the country and four others of planning the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

Police filed preliminary charges in court on Saturday against Baitullah Mehsud, who had been named by the Pakistani government in the December 27 killing of Bhutto in a suicide and gun attack.

Mehsud, alleged to have al-Qaeda connections, is underground and it was not clear if the police were close to catching him.