Pakistan elections delayed 1 month
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - January 1, 2008 A senior Election Commission official told The Associated Press
that the commission has agreed on a new date. He indicated it would
not be before the second week of February, but refused to disclose
the exact schedule before the formal announcement on Wednesday.
The opposition is likely to accuse authorities of postponing the
polls to help the ruling party, which is allied to President Pervez
Musharraf. Many believe Bhutto's party could get a sympathy boost
if the vote takes place on time. Bhutto had accused elements in the
ruling party of plotting to kill her, a charge which it vehemently
denies.
The killing of Bhutto, a former prime minister, triggered three
days of nationwide riots that killed 58 people and caused tens of
millions of dollars in damage. Bhutto's home province of Sindh was
especially hard hit and the army was called on the streets. Ten
election offices were burned.
"We need at least one month to make arrangements to hold free
and fair elections after the damage caused to our offices in the
Sindh province," the official said, adding that the commission had
already consulted the main political parties about the delay. He
spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to
disclose the decision.
In addition to logistical problems arising from the destruction
caused by the rioting, he said the caretaker governments of all
four provinces of Pakistan had suggested the vote not be held
during the holy month of Muharram from Jan. 10 through Feb. 8,
because they could not guarantee security. Sectarian violence often
breaks out between Pakistan's Shiite and Sunni Muslims.
The polls are seen as crucial to restoring democracy after eight
years of military rule and following a six-week state of emergency
that Musharraf declared in November.
Opposition groups have demanded the elections proceed on time,
and Nawaz Sharif, leader of another opposition party, threatened
street protests if they were postponed.
Bhutto's party, certain to win sympathy votes in a quick
election, accused Musharraf of wanting a delay to allow anger over
her death to evaporate.
"There have been elections in conflict zones such as Iraq and
Afghanistan so I find it difficult to understand why this election
cannot be held on time," Sherry Rehman, a spokeswoman for Bhutto's
party, told Dawn News TV.
Britain and the United States were also eager for the vote to
take place as scheduled, but have indicated they would accept a
slight delay.
Meanwhile, a top aide of Bhutto revealed that on the day she was
killed, the opposition leader was planning to give two U.S.
lawmakers a 160-page dossier accusing the government of rigging the
elections.
Bhutto was killed Thursday evening in a shooting and bombing
attack on her vehicle as she left a campaign rally. She had been
scheduled to meet hours later with U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter of
Pennsylvania and U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island.
Sen. Latif Khosa, a lawmaker from Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples
Party, said she had planned to give the lawmakers a report
outlining complaints on "pre-poll rigging" by Musharraf's
government and the military-run Inter-Services Intelligence
Directorate.
Khosa said he did not know if Bhutto's killing was linked to her
plans to release the document. Officials at the Information
Ministry and the Interior Ministry declined comment. The government
has denied charges of vote rigging and said it had nothing to do
with Bhutto's death.
The dossier outlined several instances of electoral
interference, including one case where an officer from the
intelligence services sat nearby as an election official rejected
nomination papers from opposition candidates, Khosa said. Another
official stopped a candidate from filing his nomination in the
southwestern Baluchistan province, said Khosa, who wrote the report
as head of the party's election team.
"The elections were to be thoroughly rigged, and the king's
party was to benefit in the electoral process," he said, referring
to the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League-Q.
The evidence was based on complaints by party candidates and
information from sources in the security services, he said.
Despite accusing the government of rigging the vote, Bhutto had
rejected calls for a boycott, saying she did not want leave the
field open for Musharraf's loyalists.
Since Bhutto's slaying, the government has come under harsh
criticism for its security arrangements for her, its claim that an
Islamic militant was behind her death and its conclusion that it
was the force of the blast and not gunshot wounds that killed her.
Her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, has led calls for an
international, independent investigation into the attack.
The government rejected this, but said in a statement that its
own investigation would be thorough and transparent and "will not
shy away from receiving assistance from outside, if needed."
U.S. officials said the United States had quietly joined calls
for international experts to join the probe and expected
investigators from Britain's Scotland Yard to play a significant
role.
As part of the investigation, the government took out newspaper
ads offering a 162,000 reward for information about her killers.
The ad shows a fuzzy still frame from a video featuring the
presumed shooter and bomber seconds before the attack, and a
photograph of the bomber's severed head.
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Associated Press writer Sadaqat Jan contributed to this report.