By Dipankar De Sarkar, IANS
London : A key London-based adviser to Benazir Bhutto and a strong advocate of elections in Pakistan Friday said plans for polls should now be put on hold following the former prime minister’s assassination.
Wajid Shamsul Hasan, former Pakistan high commissioner to Britain, said although Bhutto herself insisted on general elections being held on time – Jan 8 next year – her slaying Thursday had altered the political landscape in Pakistan.
With Bhutto’s assassination and her rival Nawaz Sharief’s call for a poll boycott, plans for elections “must be reviewed”, Hasan told the British Broadcasting Corporation.
Hasan’s has been one of the strongest London-based voices calling for elections in Pakistan and opposing the military rule of President Pervez Musharraf. He was also an important facilitator of talks between the British government and Bhutto.
The British government played a pro-active role in galvanising international moves for the restoration of democracy in Pakistan, first persuading Musharraf to talk to Bhutto and allow her to participate in national politics and then getting Washington to support Bhutto’s return to Pakistan.
Hasan’s latest remarks assume importance in the backdrop of renewed calls Thursday by Western countries – led by the United States, Britain and France – for elections in Pakistan.
In comments to the media, at least two of Musharraf’s spokesmen have raised doubts about election plans.
Tariq Azim Khan, who recently toured Washington, Brussels and London to argue for Musharraf, said Thursday night there was “every possibility it (the election) will have to be postponed” now because it “will not have credibility” in the absence of Bhutto.
And Musharraf spokesman Brig Rashid Qureshi Friday refused to give any commitment that elections would be held as per the original schedule.