ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's Election Commission will decide on Tuesday whether to postpone a January 8 general election meant to complete a transition to civilian rule, a commission official said on Monday.

The election has been thrown into question by the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on Thursday and widespread violence, especially in the south of the country, by her enraged supporters.

"We have called for reports from the provincial governments and provincial election commissioners on the situation. The reports will reach here by evening today and we will decide tomorrow," commission secretary Kanwar Dilshad told reporters.

Ten Election Commission offices had been burnt in Sindh in the south, Bhutto's home province, in the rioting that followed her murder, he said.

The printing of ballots in Karachi, the capital of Sindh, had been halted for the past four days because of the trouble, he said. Security in two northwestern regions also raised doubts about voting there, the commission said earlier.

Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, now led by her teenage son and husband, said on Sunday it was ready to take part in the elections.

Another main opposition party, led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, said it would probably drop its boycott plan and take part as well.

Pakistan Election Decision Delayed

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's Election Commission said on Tuesday a general election scheduled for January 8 would "in principle" be postponed but it had to consult political parties before announcing a new date.

The election, meant to complete a transition to civilian rule, has been thrown into question by the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on Thursday and widespread violence, especially in the south, by her outraged supporters.

Election Commission official Kanwar Dilshad told reporters that "in principle" the election was being delayed and a new date would be announced on Wednesday.

The commission has said that many of its offices in Sindh, Bhutto's home province, were burnt in the rioting that followed Bhutto's murder and election material including voter rolls reduced to ashes.

"We will inform the political parties about the situation in Sindh where our 13 offices were burnt. We will inform them about the ground realities and then we will fix a date in consultation with them," Dilshad said.

Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party and the other main opposition party, led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, both say they oppose any delay in the election.

The other main party, the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) which supports President Pervez Musharraf, has said it favors a delay because of the security situation.

"There are no grounds whatsoever for delaying the elections," said Raza Rabbani, deputy secretary general of Bhutto's party.

"It is being done only at the behest of the PML (Q) as they are seeing their defeat," he said

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Scotland Yard arrives in Pakistan for Bhutto probe

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — British anti-terror officers arrived in Pakistan to join the investigation into Benazir Bhutto's assassination Friday, a day after President Pervez Musharraf dismissed allegations his government may have had a hand in the slaying.

The Scotland Yard team will provide forensic and technical expertise into the killing of the opposition leader, but will not be allowed to go on a "wild goose chase and create a political disturbance," Musharraf told a news conference late Thursday.

Bhutto's killing on Dec. 27 plunged an already volatile Pakistan deeper into crisis as it battled a surge in violence by al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists. It also forced a six-week delay in parliamentary elections, now set for Feb. 18, which were seen as crucial to restoring stability and democracy to this U.S. ally.

Musharraf, a former army chief who seized power in a 1999 coup, rejected accusations that a security lapse led to Bhutto's killing and suggested she was partly at fault because she poked her head out of her bombproof vehicle's sunroof after an election rally despite threats by Islamic extremists.

He acknowledged his decision to seek outside help to investigate the killing was partly to allay suspicions of government complicity. Bhutto had accused elements in the ruling party of plotting to kill her.

"Here's a situation where maybe we need to go beyond ourselves to prove to the world and our people here, who are emotionally charged, that we don't mind going to any extent, as nobody is involved from the government side or the agencies," Musharraf said.

The British officers declined to comment to reporters as they arrived at Islamabad airport Friday morning.

Rioting following Bhutto's death killed nearly 60 people and caused about US$1.3 billion in damage in the worst-hit province of Sindh, authorities say.

The government quickly accused an Islamic militant of orchestrating the shooting and bombing attack on Bhutto and said she died from the force of the blast and not a gunshot wound. Many in this country of 160 million people, already skeptical of their government, questioned that account, and Bhutto's party has demanded a U.N. probe.

Musharraf admitted the government may have erred in giving a precise cause of death just a day after Bhutto's killing although no autopsy was conducted.

"One should not give a statement that's 100% final. That's the flaw that we suffer from," Musharraf said, noting that more evidence was emerging into the attack. "We needed more experience, maybe more forensic and technical experience that our people don't have. Therefore, I thought Scotland Yard may be more helpful."

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki visited Islamabad to pay his condolences.

"Those who have done this crime have targeted the stability and security of Pakistan," he told reporters after visiting the headquarters of Bhutto's party. "Extremism and terrorism has no place in the minds and in the hearts of the people of this region."

Musharraf also conceded shortcomings in Pakistan's handling of the case, including the hosing down of the bomb site hours after the attack, widely seen as undermining a detailed forensic examination. But he dismissed any suggestion there was a plan to conceal evidence.

"I'm not fully satisfied. I will accept that: cleaning the area. Why did they do that? If you are meaning they did that by design I would say no. It's just inefficiency, people thinking things have to be cleared, traffic has to go through," he said.

Musharraf blamed Taliban militant leaders Baitullah Mehsud and Maulana Fazlullah, also believed linked to al-Qaeda, for a wave of suicide attacks. The government has already accused Mehsud of orchestrating the Bhutto attack, which a Mehsud spokesman has denied. The government cited a communications intercept in which Mehsud allegedly congratulated some of his henchmen.

The president, a key U.S. ally in the war on terror, said killing Mehsud — who in the intercept gave his location as a town in the lawless tribal region of South Waziristan — was no easy matter. It would require a division of troops and cause major civilian casualties, he said.

Still, Musharraf denied al-Qaeda was getting stronger in Pakistan.

He said Pakistan needed political reconciliation to fight terror, and he hoped the elections would haul the country out of its current crisis. "This is the greatest threat Pakistan has and we have to have political reconciliation to fight it together," he said.


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Pipeline project will be completed: Musharraf

ISLAMABAD: President Pervez Musharraf on Friday assured Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki that the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project would be completed as it was vital for the prosperity of both the countries. In his meeting with Musharraf, Mottaki conveyed a special message from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad which assured Iran’s support to Pakistan in the war on terror, diplomatic sources told Daily Times. President Musharraf said no external pressure to abandon the IPI project would be tolerated and Pakistan would pursue it irrespective of India’s intentions in this regard, Online reported. Mottaki also met with Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro and Foreign Minister Inamul Haq. staff report/online

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Govt may change NWFP, Balochistan governors

* NWFP governor may have resigned, prompting need for replacement

By Zulfiqar Ghuman and Iqbal Khattak

ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR: The government has decided to appoint the current Balochistan governor as NWFP governor ahead of the rescheduled general elections, according to well-placed sources.

Highly-placed sources claimed that the government has decided to appoint Owais Ghani, incumbent Balochistan governor, as NWFP governor in place of Lt Gen (r) Ali Jan Muhammad Orakzai. “In Balochistan, Chief Justice of Balochistan Amaullah Khan Yousafzai will be appointed acting governor in place of Owais Ghani until a suitable person is selected for this job,” they claimed. They said the decision to change the governors of the two provinces has been taken in principle, adding that it could take a few days before it is implemented.

Possible resignation: Separately, Daily Times Bureau Chief Iqbal Khattak quoted official sources from Peshawar as saying that NWFP Governor Ali Jan Orakzai may have resigned. “He has resigned and what we hear is that his successor is likely to be from Mardan district,” the sources told Daily Times on Friday. There are rumours that General Ehsanul Haq, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, could replace Orakzai as the next NWFP governor. The officials said the contents of the resignation letter could not be ascertained.

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EU to Monitor Pakistan’s Elections

ISLAMABAD, 5 January 2008 — EU election observers yesterday said they would deploy across Pakistan in the coming weeks and on the troubled nation’s delayed Feb. 18 election day to ensure the polls are “free and fair.” A team of nearly 100 will be on the ground visiting polling stations on the day of the vote to ensure proper procedures are followed, said the head of the EU Election Observation Mission to Pakistan.

“I really invite all (political) parties, civil society, and the media to be active on the ground in respective communities, in ensuring that this is the people’s election,” chief observer Michael Gahler said here.

President Pervez Musharraf backed the postponement of general elections, originally set for Jan. 8, until Feb. 18 after the murder of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto a week ago plunged the nation into turmoil.

The delay has been criticized as a ploy by Musharraf loyalists in the government to rob the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) of any sympathy vote it may have won in the aftermath of Benazir’s murder.

“We are prepared to accept information from all parties,” Gahler said of allegations by the opposition that elections could be rigged, but added that he had “no reason to expect” his team would face any government restrictions.

A “core team” of 11 experts will be based in Islamabad while a further 50 “long-term observers” are expected to be sent out in the coming days, if the security situation allows.

They will be joined by a further 48 observers one week ahead of voting, Gahler said, with the monitoring team deployed in pairs across Pakistan on the polling day.

Meanwhile, a Scotland Yard team arrived in Pakistan yesterday to help investigate Benazir’s assassination. But The PPP opposed it, saying it will fail to shed any light on the murder.

“This Scotland Yard team... what will it do here? It will work under the patronage of the government. It is going to be a meaningless exercise,” said Farooq Naik, a lawyer and Benazir’s top aide.

He said the PPP would not cooperate with any investigation other than one held under the auspices of the United Nations, such as the UN-led probe into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005.

“We reject it, we will not join it,” Naik said. “An international investigation commission should be set up, appointed by the UN and answerable to the UN and nobody else.”

The government has ruled out any UN-led inquiry into the Dec. 27 assassination. Benazir’s supporters have blamed Musharraf for failing to provide adequate security for the two-time former prime minister, who had survived an earlier suicide bombing in October which left scores dead.

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Army action to gear up after Orakzai

* Former NWFP chief secretary says Orakzai favoured political solution to militancy in Tribal Areas

By Iqbal Khattak

PESHAWAR: A harder military approach towards militancy in the Tribal Areas seems a new agenda following the departure of Ali Jan Orakzai as the NWFP governor, who pleaded for a ‘peaceful solution’ to the issue engulfing the country’s western borders, analysts said on Saturday.

With Orakzai’s departure, political solution to the militancy in the Tribal Areas will be a distant cry and strong military response will follow, the analysts told Daily Times.

“I think that emphasis on the political solution will be lesser and hard things have to come by,” said Khalid Aziz, head of the Regional Institute of Policy Research and Training.

Since early days of his appointment as NWFP governor in May 2006, Orakzai, himself a tribesman and former corps commander of Peshawar, was giving every young tribesman a pen to change mindset of the tribal people from militancy.

Political solution: “Orakzai was trying to balance government’s acts in the Tribal Areas with an emphasis on a political solution. With his departure, this emphasis will vanish,” Khalid, a former NWFP chief secretary, said.

Within months of his appointment, Orakzai signed a peace deal with militants in North Waziristan in September 2006 and hoped that this would lead to a permanent solution.

The Waziristan attempt was copied in the Helmand province of Afghanistan where the British forces left Musa Qala district after they reached a similar deal with the Taliban.

Although Orakzai kept himself at bay from the media, the Helmand deal prompted him to say that his deal with pro-Taliban militants in North Waziristan was a good starter, pleading that Afghanistan should “follow me”.

Months later, anti-deal forces began voicing concern at the North Waziristan situation where they believed the deal was “benefiting the militants”. The much-publicised peace deal collapsed in July 2006 when the militants restarted attacks on the government forces.

Khalid believed Orakzai paid a price for his approach and cited the then governor’s differences over Waziristan policy of the government.

“He (Orakzai) did not subscribe to the government’s approach to tackle the kidnapping of (over 200) soldiers, which was no negotiations with the kidnappers,” the former NWFP chief secretary said.

Sources said key government officials negotiating with the militants felt “betrayed” by Islamabad when six tribesmen who were to be freed under the agreement for the safe recovery of the soldiers last year were not released by the federal government.

The four senior bureaucrats went on a long leave in protest at the government’s “betrayal of understanding” reached with the militants after they agreed to free the soldiers unharmed in exchange for the release of their captured comrades.

Former FATA security chief Brig (r) Mehmood Shah said that with Orakzai’s departure, the army would have a “greater say and influence” as far as military and political decisions in the Tribal Areas were concerned. “The army will feel better with a civilian as governor,” he said. “The government seemed unhappy with him.”

A senior tribal affairs analyst said the harder military approach would serve “the interests of outside forces who want the army to stay engaged” in the Tribal Areas.

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NWFP, Sindh get representation in EC

ISLAMABAD: President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday appointed Sindh High Court judge Ghulam Dastagir Shahani and Peshawar High Court judge Jehan Zaib Rahim members of the Election Commission (EC). Appointment of the two has completed full strength of the EC i.e. four members, one from each federation unit and a chief election commissioner. The EC had been without any representative from Sindh and the NWFP since long. The president made new appointments under Article 218 (2)(b) of the constitution. The EC is now headed by CEC Justice (r) Qazi Muhammad Farooq and consists of Justice Naseem Sikandar of LHC, Justice Hamid Khan Lashari of Balochistan High Court, Justice Ghulam Dastagir Shahani of Sindh High Court and Justice Jehan Zeb Rahim of Peshawar High Court. staff report

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Pakistan is ruled by three As - Army, America and Allah.

China believes in Musharraf’s leadership

BEIJING: China believes that the difficulties facing Pakistan can be overcome under the leadership of President Pervez Musharraf, and the people should remain united to maintain social stability and national development, Chinese FM Yang Jiechi said on Saturday.

He was discussing Pakistan’s current situation over telephone with his Pakistani counterpart Inamul Haq. The Chinese foreign minister said that a stable Pakistan was important for the region and the international community, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported. “China hopes that Pakistan will hold its parliamentary elections successfully,” Jiechi said.

Haq praised China’s support to Pakistan and the understanding of the situation in Pakistan at such a difficult time. He said the government had committed itself to further promote democracy and maintain the country’s stability and development. He also assured the Chinese minister that the government was ensuring the polls are held successfully. app

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Survey begins for cantonment in Swat

PESHAWAR: The federal government has started a survey of several places in Swat, Mingora and Matta to acquire land for the establishment of a permanent cantonment, which the government believes will help maintain law and order in the region. Sources said the personnel of law-enforcement agencies have started a survey to acquire land on the Kanju road, airport road and near the PTDC motel to establish the new cantonment. After Swat, cantonments will be also established in other districts of NWFP. online

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Pakistan is ruled by three As - Army, America and Allah.