"Pakistani Elections" (Feb.2008)

"The election commission had earlier said that unrest following the killing of Benazir Bhutto would almost certainly force the postponement, despite opposition threats of street protests that happened. Commission Secretary Kunwar Muhammad Dilshad told the Times that it would not be possible to hold the elections in a week because the printing of ballot papers stopped after Benazir Bhutto's assassination and because rioters had damaged election offices in Sindh Province. The development came as an aide to Bhutto said the opposition leader had been planning to give two U.S. lawmakers a report accusing the ruling regime of working to rig the vote when she was killed Thursday. Sen. Latif Khosa, a lawmaker from Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party, said he did not know if her killing was linked to the 160-page report she was to give to Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island at a meeting scheduled for a few hours after she was killed. Vote interference alleged The file outlined several instances of electoral interference, including one case where a major from the intelligence services sat with an election official when the official rejected the nomination papers of Peoples Party candidates, Khosa said. Another official stopped a candidate from filing his nomination in the southwestern Baluchistan province, he said. "The elections were to be thoroughly rigged, and the king's party was to benefit in the electoral process," he said, referring to the Pakistan Muslim League-Q party, which is allied with Musharraf. Bhutto had repeatedly accused the government of rigging the vote, but rejected boycott calls by other opposition groups, saying she did not want leave the field open for Musharraf's loyalists. Bhutto's killing last week thrust the country into crisis and triggered nationwide riots that killed 58 people and caused tens of millions of dollars in damage to homes, government offices and transport facilities. The violence has di...