Pakistan's political crisis appeared to stabilise on Thursday with parties looking ahead to elections in which the party of assassinated opposition leader Benazir Bhutto is set to make gains.
There were no reports of protests against an Election Commission decision on Wednesday to postpone the general election to February 18, despite the objections of the two main opposition parties which had wanted it held on schedule on January 8.
Pakistani shares rallied 4.65 percent by 0832 GMT, after falling nearly 10 percent in the wake of Bhutto's assassination in a gun and bomb attack a week ago as she left an election rally in the city of Rawalpindi. "Incidents of violence have gone down, in that sense one can say the situation is better," said former government minister and political analyst Shafqat Mahmood.
"But the central issues which are dividing the nation remain and the most divisive figure is Musharraf himself," he said, referring to President Pervez Musharraf, the former military chief who took power in a 1999 coup.
The murder of the charismatic Bhutto, an old Musharraf rival, and the violence that followed has fuelled doubts about stability and the transition to democratic rule in nuclear-armed Pakistan, a crucial ally in US anti-terrorism efforts.