Pak to decide on holding polls later

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said the government will decide on holding the general election after slain ex-premier Benazir Bhutto's party clarifies its stand on whether the January 8 polls should be postponed.

Musharraf made his stand clear to ruling party PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain during a meeting on Saturday.

He said that a final decision on whether to go ahead with the January 8 polls would be made after consulting all political
parties, including Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party.

The matter was also discussed at a high-level meeting Musharraf chaired on Saturday to review the situation in the
wake of Bhutto's assassination on Thursday. That meeting was attended by caretaker prime minister Mohammedmian Soomro, Army Chief GeneralAshfaq Pervez Kiyani and other top officials.

"Yes, President Pervez Musharraf has decided that being an aggrieved party, the PPP should be given a free hand to
decide a date for holding of elections - be it on January 8 or any other date," an official, who participated in the
high-level meeting was quoted as saying by The News.

Musharraf's decision was conveyed to Bhutto's husband Asif Ali Zardari and top PPP leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim. Their response, the official said, is expected in a day or two. "We will welcome any date for the election to be given by the PPP leadership," the official said.

The PPP's top leadership will shortly finalise its stand on the polls during a meeting at Naudero, Bhutto's ancestral
village in southern Sindh province. The meeting is also expected to choose a leader to succeed Bhutto as the party
chief.

The Election Commission too will hold an urgent meeting on Monday to decide whether the polls should be held as
scheduled.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the poll panel said all electoral rolls and ballot boxes had been destroyed in nine
districts of Sindh during protests. It said the situation in the Kurram tribal agency, which has witnessed fierce sectarian
clashes, was not conducive to holding polls.

Reports suggested that the PPP might ask for the polls to be held in the last week of February or early March, after the
completion of its 40-day mourning for Bhutto.

Musharraf also said, during the high-level meeting, that he was ready to meet political leaders to discuss the holding of the polls. He directed security officials to deploy the army if necessary to quell the violent protests against Bhutto's
assassination. 

"No compromise should be made on the issue of law and order," he said.

Protests erupted across Pakistan after Bhutto's death, and Sindh, a stronghold of the PPP, had witnessed the worst of
the violence. Nearly 50 people have died and hundreds were injured in the protests, which damaged property worth millions of rupees.