Pakistan's political crisis appeared to stabilise yesterday with parties looking ahead to an election 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 wanted it held on schedule on January 8.
"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 Mr Musharraf himself," he said, referring to President Pervez Musharraf, the former military chief who took power in a 1999 coup.
Pakistani shares ended 4.82 per cent higher after falling nearly 10 per cent in the wake of Mrs Bhutto's assassination in a gun and bomb attack a week ago as she left an election rally in the city of Rawalpindi.
The murder of the charismatic Mrs 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.
US President George W. Bush, describing himself as a supporter of Mr Musharraf, said the President should work with whoever wins the elections next month and said the world must help Pakistan overcome the turmoil triggered by Ms Bhutto's death.
"It's in the interest of the world to help Pakistan recover from this terrible incident and have a strong democracy. That's exactly what the position of the US government is," Mr Bush told Reuters in an interview at the White House.
Mr Musharraf gave in to an opposition demand for outside help with the investigation into the assassination when he announced on Wednesday that British police would take part.
He said he was sure al Qaeda-linked militants were behind the attack on Mrs Bhutto, who had spoken strongly of the need to tackle militancy and had been threatened by militant leaders.
But many Pakistanis believe other Mrs Bhutto enemies, perhaps in sections of the security agencies, were involved, fuelling anger against Mr Musharraf whose popularity had already slumped.
Mr Musharraf rejected any suggestion security agencies were behind Mrs Bhutto's murder.
"In the last three months, there have been 19 suicide bombings, most of them against the military, against the intelligence," Mr Musharraf told reporters.
"If the same military and same intelligence is using the same people who are attacking them, it's a joke."
The election had been regarded as a three-way race between Mrs Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), the other main opposition party led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and the party that backs Mr Musharraf. The latter ruled until a caretaker government was set up in November.
The PPP is expected to ride a wave of sympathy but analysts are unsure how much that might abate over the next six weeks.
It was also unclear if the party would pick up more votes in its strongholds, which would not necessarily translate into more seats, or make inroads into vote banks of other parties.