Peoples Party sharpens poll focus

Islamabad: Electoral officials are to decide today on whether to persist with the January 8 election schedule even as a two-month delay looks a distinct possibility in the wake of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto's assassination.

Bhutto's killing in a suicide attack on Thursday has stoked bloodshed across the country and rage against President Pervez Musharraf, casting doubts on nuclear-armed Pakistan's stability and its transition to civilian rule.

Shares fell 4.7 per cent on Monday, their steepest dive in 18 months, and the rupee hit a six-year low as investors worried political instability could damage the $145 billion (Dh532.7 billion) economy. The markets had been closed for three days of mourning.

The death toll from violence since Bhutto's killing has reached 47. Sporadic violence flared again on Monday, with protesters firing into the air in the southern city of Hyderabad and throwing stones at police and shops.

Storefronts were damaged in the nearby town of Nawabshah, where Bhutto's widower hails from.

Storekeepers also shuttered their facades in parts of the southern financial hub of Karachi. Hundreds of lawyers marched in the southern city of Multan chanting slogans like "Musharraf, you killer".

A former ruling party official said the election was likely to be delayed for up to two months.

Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), however, vowed to take part, and the opposition party led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif would too, said its chairman, Raja Zafar-ul-Haq.

"We don't want any delay," said PPP spokeswoman Farzana Raja, adding that a postponement would help the party's opponents.

Election Commission secretary Kanwar Dilshad said provincial governments and election commissioners had been told to submit reports on the situation by late last evening.

A decision on whether to postpone the parliamentary election would be taken today, Dilshad said.

The commission said on Saturday its offices in many districts of Sindh province in the south of the country had been burnt and voting material including electoral rolls destroyed. Security fears in two northwestern regions also raised doubts about voting there, it said.

"Despite this dangerous situation, we will go for elections, according to her will and thinking," said Bhutto's husband Asif Ali Zardari, who was made co-chairman of the PPP on Sunday alongside the couple's teenage son, Bilawal.

Karachi, a virtual ghost town at the weekend after rioters burnt shops, banks and cars, began to get back to work. Banks and shops raised shutters, cars and motorcycles were back on the streets and some petrol pumps opened for business.

Zardari said he would not run in the election and would not be a candidate for prime minister but mentioned PPP vice chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim as a possible candidate.