President Pervez Musharraf must quit if Pakistan is to regain stability in the wake of the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, a think-tank said on Thursday.
"It is time to recognise that democracy, not an artificially propped-up, defrocked, widely despised general has the best chance to provide stability and turn back extremists' gains," said Robert Templer, ICG's Asia director. ICG said that in addition to Musharraf's resignation there must be full restoration of constitution and the reappointment of Supreme Court judges he dismissed in November when he imposed emergency rule.
Benazir Bhutto, a two-time former prime minister, was assassinated at a campaign rally in Rawalpindi a week ago. Her death in a gun and suicide bombing and ensuing unrest, including 58 deaths, prompted planned January 8 polls to be delayed until February 18.
"Bhutto's death has drawn the battle lines even more clearly between Musharraf's military-backed regime and moderate majority, which will settle for nothing less than genuine parliamentary democracy," said Mark Schneider, ICG's senior vice-president.
The ICG agreed with the decision of Election Commission to postpone the parliamentary polls, but only if extra steps are taken to ensure the delay "creates conditions for free and fair elections."
General elections are seen as a crucial next step in the transition to civilian-led democratic rule under Musharraf, who stepped down from his other post as army chief just weeks ago. But Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), the country's largest, alleged the delay is an attempt to give Musharraf's allies time to rig the vote.
ICG also said that "Belying his reiterated slogan of 'Pakistan first,' Musharraf is placing regime survival and his personal political fortune first," and called on the international community to "support an independent, fixed-deadline investigation into Bhutto's murder."
In a televised address to the nation on Wednesday night, Musharraf announced that a team of detectives from Britain's Scotland Yard, with specialist skills in forensics, would probe Benazir Bhutto's death. They are due here by the weekend.
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