USA Today: Commission: Pakistan elections 'impossible' on schedule.
Commission: Pakistan elections 'impossible' on schedule.
It appears "impossible" for Pakistan to hold a vote on Jan. 8 because of unrest following the killing of Benazir Bhutto, the country's election commission said Tuesday. The announcement could spark protests by parties demanding quick polls to capitalize on sympathy for the slain opposition leader. The commission said it would announce a new date on Wednesday after meeting Pakistan's political parties.
On the day she was killed, opposition leader Benazir Bhutto planned to give two U.S. lawmakers a dossier accusing the ruling regime and Pakistan's intelligence service of rigging upcoming elections, an aide said Tuesday. Sen. Latif Khosa, a lawmaker from Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party, said she planned to meet Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island on Thursday evening, a few hours after the rally where she was killed. She was preparing to give the U.S. lawmakers a 160-page report of complaints on "pre-poll rigging" the government of President Pervez Musharraf and the military-run Inter-services Intelligence Service was engaged in, Khosa said. Khosa also said he did not know if Bhutto's assassination was linked to the report.
Labels: Benazir Bhutto, Elections, Pakistan
