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Public Fury at Pak Election Delay to Feb 18; Mush Wants UK Help w/Bhutto Probe

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The New York Times - Jan 2, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/03/world/asia/03pakistan.html


Pakistan Requests British Help in Bhutto Inquiry

By CARLOTTA GALL

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan " The main opposition parties denounced the
governments decision on Wednesday to postpone parliamentary elections
for six weeks after the assassination of the opposition leader, Benazir
Bhutto, but they said they would abide by the ruling.

The Election Commission set Feb. 18 as the date for the elections,
citing the time needed to recover from the violence that followed Ms.
Bhuttos death. Nearly 60 people were killed, election offices were
damaged and parts of Ms. Bhuttos home province, Sindh, were paralyzed.

It is risky, said one Western diplomat, who would speak only
anonymously, following diplomatic protocols. Anything could happen,
because any straw or incident could ignite more violence or reaction
against the government.

Condemning the violence and expressing his sorrow at the death of Ms.
Bhutto, President Pervez Musharraf went on national television to
explain the elections delay and to dampen public anger. He
acknowledged that the governments conflicting reports had created
confusion over how she had been killed, and he said he had requested
the assistance of a team from Londons Metropolitan Police Service,
Scotland Yard, to help with the investigation.

I myself want to go into its depths and want to tell the nation, Mr.
Musharraf said. It is extremely important to bring the nation out of
confusion.

I am sure this investigation with the help of Scotland Yard will
remove all doubts and suspicions, he added.

The postponement was the right decision, the president said, and he
promised free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections, emphasizing
the word peaceful.

The Bush administration praised Pakistans decision on Monday to ask
Scotland Yard to help investigate the assassination of Ms. Bhutto.
Its very important that a transparent and comprehensive investigation
move ahead quickly, and we certainly welcome Pakistans decision to
consult U.K. expertise, said the White House spokeswoman, Dana Perino.

The decision to delay the elections was criticized by Ms. Bhuttos
husband, Asif Ali Zardari, now the co-chairman of her Pakistan Peoples
Party, who had demanded that they go ahead on time, partly to
capitalize on the expected sympathy vote. The other main opposition
leader, Nawaz Sharif, called again for President Musharraf to resign
and for the appointment of a neutral interim government.

An alliance of smaller opposition parties, which is already boycotting
the elections, said it would start planning countrywide protests. They
suspect that Mr. Musharraf will keep postponing the voting indefinitely.

Mr. Zardari, speaking to journalists after a party meeting at Ms.
Bhuttos country estate in Naudero, said his party, while condemning
the delay, would take part in the elections and would not seek
confrontation. Elections will take place, and the masses will rule,
he said.

But he warned the government not to test the people too hard by trying
to rig the elections. Fear the day when our hearts are torn apart and
I wont be able to control the party workers, he said.

That sentiment was echoed by the other main opposition party. The
country cant stand another controversial election, said Ahsan Iqbal,
spokesman for the party backing Mr. Sharif. Our fear is, after Benazir
Bhuttos death a controversial election will be a recipe for disaster.

The State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack, said the United States
supported Pakistans decision to set a specific date for the
parliamentary elections. But he took the unusual step of urging the
government, a crucial ally in the campaign against terrorism, to assure
freedom of the press and the full and unfettered participation of all
parties in free and fair elections.

You need to allow those candidates and those who are legitimate
participants in the political process to access that free media and to
make sure that you have the most free, fair and transparent electoral
process in the run-up to the election, on election day, as well as
after election day, as votes are being counted, Mr. McCormack said.

Foreign diplomats said they were concerned that the delay could be
destabilizing for the country, particularly since support for President
Musharraf and his government has slumped to a record low. Many people
here hold the establishment responsible, whether directly or
indirectly, for Ms. Bhuttos death, and view the governments clumsy
attempt to deny that she died from a bullet wound as confirmation of
their beliefs.

The chief election commissioner, Qazi Mohammad Farooq, announced the
elections postponement in the capital and said the commission had made
the decision after consulting political parties and the chief
secretaries of Pakistans four provinces.

He said that 11 election commission offices had been burned and that
ballot papers, voting lists and election screens had been destroyed.
These could not all be replaced before Jan. 8, the date originally
scheduled for the elections, Mr. Farooq said.

Security also remained unsteady and not conducive for elections, he
said. Mr. Farooq said the officials were also concerned about elections
overlapping the lengthy Shiite religious festival of Muharram, which
runs from Jan. 10 to Feb. 8. Police forces are usually deployed across
the country to guard shrines and processions during Muharram to
forestall sectarian fighting between Sunnis and Shiites. They would be
overstretched if they had to handle security for elections at the same
time, elections officials said.

Mr. Sharif said by telephone from Lahore that President Musharraf was
delaying elections because he was afraid of losing. He said that his
party, a faction of the Pakistan Muslim League called the P.M.L.-N,
remained opposed to the delay, but that he would not call for protests
yet.

He said the party that backed Mr. Musharraf, the P.M.L.-Q, or the Q
League, was worried about staging a vote too soon. It is the
requirement of the Q League and General Musharraf to get these
elections postponed because their rigging plans are falling apart, Mr.
Sharif said Wednesday evening. He has done it to buy time and
strengthen his rigging plans.

He said he did not believe that polling places in Sindh Province could
not be repaired in a timely fashion. The voting there could have been
postponed briefly, he said, while the rest of the country voted on
schedule.

Mr. Musharraf said the army, which was deployed in Sindh Province to
contain the recent violence, would remain there for the elections as
well. He asserted that terrorists who were behind a string of bombings
against government vehicles and personnel in recent months were also
behind the attack on Ms. Bhutto.

The mood on the streets was one of cynicism about the government, its
failure to protect Ms. Bhutto and its decision to delay elections. At
Liaquat Bagh in the city of Rawalpindi, where Ms. Bhutto gave her final
speech last Thursday, a steady stream of people were still gathering to
leave flowers and say prayers.

The government did the blast, said Waqar Siddiqui, 25, a trader.
People are saying this was a government effort because the P.M.L.-Q
wants the election delayed.

Others said the government deliberately failed to provide adequate
security for Ms. Bhutto. She wanted democracy and peace, and they hate
democracy, said Sardar Fidar Beg, 32, a leader of the Pakistan Peoples
Party youth wing. They think she would become prime minister a third
time.

Fiza Asar, 23, who was shopping for a wedding present for a friend,
said the delay would give the government more time to steal the
elections. Theres a high probability it might be rigged, she said.

Meena Bashir, 32, said she had never voted in her life and was not
planning to this year, but she said she wished the voting would have
gone ahead as scheduled. Delaying it will only prolong uncertainty, she
said, with the threat of political violence.

They should have gotten it over with, she said. The worst thing is
when everything shuts down. Your life shuts down.

Nor did she think this was the only setback. The governing party was
afraid of losing, and it was capable of finding another ruse, she said.
Once this settles down, theyre going to come up with something else,
she said.

[Reporting was contributed by Somini Sengupta and Salman Masood from
Karachi, Pakistan, Jane Perlez from Lahore, Pakistan, and Eric Schmitt
from Washington.]

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