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Islamabad: Pakistan's new government, already at odds over how to confront President Pervez Musharraf, faced new strains yesterday over a delay in elections in which ruling coalition leaders had hoped to run for Parliament.
The country's election commission said on Monday it was postponing a set of polls for two months - until August 18 - because of security worries in the militancy-plagued northwest and a cluttered legislative calendar.
The decision drew shrill protests from coalition leaders, and accusations that the US-backed president had engineered the postponement to obstruct his foes.
But yesterday, two junior partners in the government claimed that a top official from the party of slain ex-leader Benazir Bhutto was instrumental in prompting the delay.
Iftikhar Hussain, information minister in North West Frontier Province, said Interior Ministry head Rehman Malek had asked the province's chief minister to request a delay. An aide to former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who leads the second-largest party in the coalition, called for an inquiry and said Malek should be fired if found culpable.
"Some black sheep within the government are serving the interests" of Musharraf, Sadiqul Farooq said. "Rehman Malek is apparently a part of this conspiracy." Mobbed by reporters yesterday, Malek, who is the government's top security official, did not address his alleged role.
Irregularities
"We will go into the details, and we will definitely come back to the people of Pakistan, but we are protesting against this postponement," he said.
The forthcoming elections are to make up for polls that could not be held or were voided in some areas in February due to irregularities, security threats and the deaths of candidates, including Bhutto. The commission previously rescheduled those votes for June 18 to fill federal and provincial assembly seats. How the two-month delay might benefit either side in Pakistan's intrigue-filled politics remains unclear.
But the issue threatens to put further pressure on the partnership between the parties of Sharif and Bhutto. Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, has taken over the leadership of her party.
Their coalition has already begun reshaping Pakistan's policy against Taliban and Al Qaida militants by shifting the emphasis from military operations to peace negotiations.
But it was founded on an unfulfilled pledge to reinstate senior judges purged by Musharraf last year to protect his disputed re-election as president.
Sharif, whose government was ousted when Musharraf mounted a military coup in 1999, is pushing hard for the judges' return, which could prompt Musharraf to quit.
But Zardari is pressing for a raft of judicial reforms and the coalition has already missed an April 30 deadline to bring back the judges.
The wrangling has spawned speculation that Zardari wants to compromise with Musharraf.
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