UN could be called to investigate Bhutto's death

The party of slain Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto will call on the United Nations for an inquiry into her assassination if it forms a government after elections next month.

The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has aired deep suspicions over the motives and identities of Bhutto's assassins, who launched a gun and bomb attack against her at the end of a campaign rally in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on December 27.

"If the PPP comes to power, we will ask the U.N. to hold an inquiry," said Farhatullah Babar, a senior official in Bhutto's party, who accuses the government of shielding the culprits.

The government blamed al Qaeda and initially said Bhutto was killed when the blast threw her head against the sun-roof lever of the car in which she was standing, despite TV footage showing a gunman firing at her head a split second before.

The official version, which also contradicted witness reports of gunshot wounds, has stoked suspicion among Pakistanis that government or military elements opposed to the transition to a civilian-led democracy were behind the attack.

Bhutto was buried the day after her killing, in keeping with Muslim custom, without a post- mortem.

Her widower, Asif Ali Zardari, now the party's de facto leader, declined to comment on Sunday. He has not said yet whether the family would agree to the exhumation of Bhutto's body without the formation of a full U.N. inquiry. - Reuters