ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Parliamentary elections in Pakistan are set to be postponed by several weeks despite opposition demands they go ahead as planned on Jan. 8, officials said Monday, setting up a new political standoff after Benazir Bhutto’s assassination.
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, now the country’s most prominent opposition leader, threatened street protests if the vote is delayed.
“We will agitate,” he told The Associated Press. “We will not accept this postponement.”
Western governments are urging the government to go ahead with the polls without major delays. They see the elections as a key step in U.S.-backed plans to restore democracy to the nation as it battles Taliban and al-Qaeda militants.
White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said the government should set a specific date for new elections, but he said the timing was “up to the people of Pakistan.”
Bhutto’s party, now effectively controlled by her husband, and Sharif’s opposition movement both feel they could be helped at the polls by widespread sympathy at Bhutto’s killing last week at a campaign rally and accusations that allies of President Pervez Musharraf had a role in the murder.
But political instability and the technical challenges of holding the vote after nationwide riots following the killing led to widespread expectations that the balloting will be delayed.
After days of rioting that left at least 44 dead, life in many Pakistani cities began returning to normal, though soldiers and police patrolled many areas.
Also Monday, U.S. officials said the United States provided a steady stream of intelligence to Bhutto about threats against her before she was assassinated and advised her aides on how to boost security, although key suggestions seem to have gone unheeded.
Senior U.S. diplomats had multiple conversations, including at least two private face-to-face meetings, with top members of Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party to discuss the threats and review her security arrangements.
