Brown offers Musharraf help over Bhutto assassination

Gordon Brown has spoken to Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf today about British help for an investigation into the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, Downing Street said.

And the British prime minister also urged him to avoid any “significant delay” in holding elections after a ruling party spokesman said they could be put off for up to four months.

The two leaders spoke by telephone this afternoon as Ms Bhutto’s husband called for international assistance in probing who was behind the attack and exactly how she died.

Ms Bhutto’s only son Bilawal, an Oxford law student, was announced today as her successor at the head of the Pakistan People’s Party.

The 19-year-old is too young to stand for office and will continue his studies while his father, Ms Bhutto’s husband Asif Ali Zardari, takes day-to-day control of the party.

The party also decided that it would contest the elections, due on January 8, as another opposition party said it would drop its planned boycott.

An official announcement on whether the poll will be delayed due to ongoing violence in the wake of Ms Bhutto’s killing is expected tomorrow.

There is mounting tension in Pakistan over conflicting claims about who was behind the assassination and how Ms Bhutto died.

She was killed when shots were fired at her and a suicide bomber blew himself up as she left a pre-election rally, weeks after returning from exile.

Her supporters dispute government claims that an “al Qaida” militant leader was behind the attack, instead accusing the authorities of trying to cover-up a failure to protect her.

Further anger was sparked by official findings that the cause of death was not bullets or shrapnel but the blast forcing her head into a lever as she ducked back into her armoured vehicle.

Ms Bhutto’s husband Asif Ali Zardari called on the British Government and the United Nations to help investigate Ms Bhutto’s death.

A Number 10 spokeswoman said the two leaders discussed international cooperation and agreed “to consider this suggestion further”.

The PM also “underlined the need to push ahead with the democratic process and to avoid any significant delays to the electoral timetable”, she said.

“They agreed on the need for Pakistan to unite in response to the threat from terrorism, and for all sides to pursue a path of reconciliation and restraint,” she added.

“The Prime Minister also reinforced the UK’s offer of an extension to our already significant counter-terrorism cooperation.”