Pakistan Accepts Help From Britain to Probe Bhutto Assassination
By VOA News
02 January 2008
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf says a team from Britain's Scotland Yard will assist in an investigation into the death of opposition leader and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
In an address to the nation, President Musharraf said he wanted to set up a commission of inquiry to dispel any confusion about the circumstances of her assassination - which he called a great tragedy for Pakistan and which he blamed on terrorists.
He also said parliamentary elections - now delayed until February 18 - will be free, fair and peaceful. He said the army and paramilitary will be deployed to ensure security during the elections.
President Musharraf also strongly condemned those who rioted in the days after Ms. Bhutto's assassination. He said such destruction and violence will not be tolerated. He backed the election commission's decision to delay the balloting.
Ms. Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party says it will take part in the rescheduled elections, but condemned the delay as a tactic by the pro-Musharraf party to bolster its standings. The opposition party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also says it will also participate.
Earlier, both opposition parties had demanded the elections take place as originally scheduled on January 8.
The election commission said it is impossible to hold the vote next week because many of its offices were burned and voter rolls destroyed in the violence that erupted after the assassination of Ms. Bhutto. Around 60 people were killed and millions of dollars worth of property was burned and looted in several cities.
Officials also want to avoid holding the ballot during the Islamic month of Muharram, which begins next week and is a time of mourning for Shi'ite Muslims. Sectarian violence often erupts during the period in Pakistan.
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