Musharaf said that Pakistan authorities were not responsible for a security lapse on 27 December in rally of Benazir that had led to the killing of the Opposition leader and former prime minister in a gun and suicide-bomb attack in Rawalpindi.

Islamabad, Jan 2 (PTI) The controversy over former premier Benazir Bhutto's assassination has taken another turn with a section of her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) claiming she was targeted with sophisticated "laser beam technology".

On Wednesday, the Pakistani electoral committee will announce whether the elections due to take place on 8 January will go ahead. The committee was expected to decide on the matter on Monday, but the decision has been postponed twice.

Salman Siddiq requested Nawaz Sharif and all other important political leaders to co-operate with government for fully ensuring their foolproof security cover to avoid any untoward incident in future.

The electoral commission of Pakistan held a meeting today to decide whether the general election of the country will go ahead as planned next week on Saturday January 8, 2008.

Pakistan's electoral commission has delayed a decision on whether to postpone the 8th of January parliamentary elections until Tuesday.

Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will decide tomorrow about the fate of the January 8 general elections in the country, following the receipt of reports from other provinces.

It has been announced that Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, 19, the son of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto will take her place as the head of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and lead the party alongside his father Asif Ali Zardari. It is also announced and confirmed that the PPP along with the Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), will contest the upcoming elections for a new Prime Minister on January 8.

The United States has launched a diplomatic offensive to prevent Pakistan from falling into chaos following Benazir Bhutto's assassination. Washington says it is in close contact with the political parties in Pakistan and with allies throughout the world.

"We wouldn't want to see a re-imposition of emergency law and I am not aware that in any of our conversations with Pakistani officials anyone has suggested that emergency law or emergency rule might be re-imposed," State Department Deputy spokesman Tom Casey said here yesterday.

Shops were shuttered, weddings were cancelled and daily life was on hold for tens of millions of Pakistanis on Saturday as the nation mourned the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Benazir Bhutto has not died on any bullets or sharpen from the bomb blast but she has died of head injury as she ducked as the bomb or the bullets were fired at her car. Interior Minister has said she has no bullet marks or any wounds on her body.