U.K. to Help Pakistan Investigate Bhutto Case

Video

Praying for Benazir

Pakistanis pay their respects to Benazir Bhutto at Liaqat Bagh Park in Rawalpindi, the site of the former Pakisitani prime minister's final speech and assassination.

» LAUNCH VIDEO PLAYER

"It was inevitable, and the decision of delaying the election is quite right," said Musharraf, whose party backed the delay.

Opposition parties had strongly opposed it, in the belief that an election next week would allow them to better capitalize on sympathy for Bhutto and on a strong backlash against the government.

Independent elections experts, too, had pushed for the vote to be held Tuesday. The pretext for delaying, they said, was flimsy because the logistical hurdles could have been overcome.

"The reasons given by the Election Commission do not seem very convincing," said Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, who heads the Pakistan Institute for Legislative Development and Transparency. "The commission will now seem even more partisan than it did before this decision."

Asif Ali Zardari, Bhutto's widower and the interim leader of the Pakistan People's Party, said at a news conference Wednesday night that he would not call supporters to the streets in protest. The move seemed to reflect concerns that political agitation could lead to more violence.

"We ask people to be peaceful and to show their anger at the ballot box," Zardari said.

Opposition parties have been arguing for months that Musharraf's allies plan to rig the polls. Bhutto, who was seeking to win back her old job as prime minister, had been making the claim regularly. On Wednesday opposition leaders said the delay was one more attempt by the government to dictate the outcome of Pakistan's first national elections in more than five years.

"This is yet more proof that Musharraf cannot stick to his word and hold the election," said Ahsan Iqbal, spokesman for the Pakistan Muslim League-N, the party led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. "Musharraf must step down."

The president said in his address Wednesday night that he wants "free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections" for the country. To help achieve that goal, he announced that army and paramilitary troops that had been deployed in many areas last week to quell the rioting would remain in place at least until the election, and perhaps afterward.

Pakistan is going through one of the most tumultuous periods in its 60-year history. Frequent attacks in recent months have led to widespread fear, as well as disillusionment.

At a bustling market in Lahore selling pirated DVDs, where a Hollywood film about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy had sold out after the killing of Bhutto, one shop owner said he expected more trouble.

"I tell my family, these next few days in Pakistan will be important," said Mian Maqsood, 50. "If we can keep the violence 100 percent out, maybe we have a chance. But I am not sure that will be the case."

Correspondent Emily Wax in Lahore and special correspondents Imtiaz Ali in Peshawar and Karla Adam in London contributed to this report.