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ISLAMABAD-Pakistan officials said they would announce a February date for general elections on Wednesday, postponing the crucial vote in the chaotic aftermath of Benazir Bhutto's assassination.The government also said President Pervez Musharraf would address the US-allied nation Wednesday night for the first time since her murder last week, which set off days of unrest and calls for an international investigation."After consulting with the political parties, we will give the date tomorrow," election commission spokesman Kanwar Dilshad said Tuesday after two days of meetings, including talks Musharraf held with top aides late Monday."It looks impossible to hold elections on January 8," Dilshad said. A senior election commission official earlier confirmed the vote would be held in February.Senior officials have privately confirmed since Monday that the vote would be delayed, but the public announcement has also been held up amid an uproar over the government response to the opposition leader's killing.The interior ministry held a news conference Tuesday after local papers said officials had apologised for the ministry spokesman's assertion that Bhutto died from smashing her head on her car sunroof in the attack that killed her.It said there had been no apology-reportedly made in a briefing to local newspaper editors-and that there had merely been a request "to overlook the tone and style of the spokesman, which may not have been received well"."There is no intention to conceal anything from the people of Pakistan," a ministry statement said.The ministry spokesman had said an alleged Al-Qaeda figure was behind the attack but that no bullet or shrapnel was found in her, and that the lever of the sunroof had fractured her skull.Pictures and videos showing a man firing on Bhutto at close range appeared to cast doubt on the official version. Bhutto aides who saw the body said she was shot.Officials have dismissed calls for an international probe.The tumult over the exact cause of death has added to the turmoil after the demise of Bhutto, who was the main opposition leader contesting the elections against the former ruling party that backs Musharraf.Her killing at a campaign rally Thursday set off a wave of violence, arson and looting that has left nearly 60 people dead and caused tens of millions of dollars in damage, including to dozens of election offices.The loss of voter lists and the uncertain security situation have delayed preparations for the vote, seen as the next step in restoring Pakistan to civilian-run democracy since Musharraf resigned as army chief in November.Officials said the vote would be pushed back to the month of February but no later."Elections will not be delayed beyond February," said a senior election official who could not be named."We want the delay to be minimal. But the election commission needs a realistic amount of time to get things back on track," he said.Dilshad, the election commission spokesman, said discussions had taken into account Moharram, one of the most sacred months in the Islamic calendar, which this year runs from around January 10 to February 8 in Pakistan. The United States, which counts Musharraf as a key ally in the fight against Al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists, said a delay would be acceptable if the major political parties approved.But Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), the country's largest, said Tuesday that any postponement was "an excuse to buy time" for Musharraf's allies "to come up with means to rig polls to turn the results in their favour."A spokesman for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party of Nawaz Sharif, another opposition leader and two-time former prime minister, told AFP that its position was "one and the same" as the PPP.Hundreds of thousands of people turned out for Bhutto's funeral on Friday, and many of her legions of supporters blame Musharraf for, at the very least, failing to ensure her security.Following her assassination, the PPP leadership was passed Sunday to Bhutto's 19-year-old son Bilawal, an Oxford University student.Airport officials said he flew out of the country on Tuesday afternoon. Bhutto's husband Asif Ali Zardari will be in effective control of the party until Bilawal finishes his studies.As in the days of Noah....
