Islamabad: In view of the situation in the country after the assasination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday decided to postpone the January 8 polls to February 18, Chief Election Commissioner Qazi Mohammad Farooq said.

Earlier on Saturday, the ECP released a press statement saying that the election scheduled next month had been "adversely affected" by unrest in the country and that it would hold an urgent meeting on Monday.

After opposition leader Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, another candidate was killed in a bomb blast on Friday.

The commission said in its statement: "All activities pertaining to pre-poll arrangements, including printing of ballot papers and logistics as well as training of polling personnel, have been adversely affected."

In some places, the commission said, the security situation was "not conducive" to holding the elections on January 8. "Election commission offices in nine districts have been set on fire, leaving electoral rolls reduced to ashes."

Benazir Bhutto had returned to Pakistan after eight years of self-imposed exile to take part in the poll. After Bhutto’s assassination, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz - the country’s other major party - has already announced boycott of the polls.

Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has said it will decide about taking part in the polls on Sunday evening after prayers for Bhutto three days after her death.

Pak opposition parties slam poll postponement

Pakistan's opposition parties, including slain former Premier Benazir Bhutto's party, today reacted angrily to the government's decision to postpone Parliamentary polls till mid-February and demanded that President Pervez Musharraf quit to ensure free and fair elections.

Leaders of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, which had demanded that the polls should be held as scheduled on January 8, alleged the move by the Election Commission to put off the balloting till February 18 was aimed at facilitating "rigging" to benefit the PML-Q party that backs Musharraf.

Despite their opposition to the postponement, leaders of the PML-N and the PPP, who did not want to be named, said their parties would participate in the elections to the national and four provincial assemblies.

PML-N spokesman Ahsan Iqbal told reporters, "We demand that Musharraf should resign and a neutral caretaker government should be put in place immediately." PPP leader Farzana Raja said, "We are totally opposed to this decision. The party's central executive committee will decide a stand on this issue."

Bhutto's husband Asif Ali Zardari, the party s new co-chairman, chaired a meeting of the PPP's top leadership in Naudero today at which the postponement was discussed.

PML-N joint secretary Siddique-ul-Farooq told reporters that his party feared Musharraf's regime intended to put off the polls indefinitely and might be planning "some actions" that could lead to a further deterioration of the law and order situation.

Source : PTI