Musharraf brings in Scotland Yard

Washington Post:

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday bowed to demands for an international role in the investigation of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination, saying that Britain's Scotland Yard had agreed to assist in the probe.

"We decided to request a team from Scotland Yard to come," said Musharraf, whose government bungled the initial explanation of her killing, contributing to deep suspicions about whether the full story of Bhutto's death will be revealed.

In a nationally televised address, Musharraf blamed al-Qaeda allies for Bhutto's death, which he called a "great tragedy," but one that required "reconciliation and not . . . confrontation" among the nation's political factions.

Musharraf addressed the nation shortly after Pakistan's Election Commission announced it had rescheduled a parliamentary election for Feb. 18 -- a six-week delay that opposition parties slammed as an attempt by the president's ruling party to avoid almost certain defeat if the vote were held next week as scheduled.

...

It is not clear why this obvious step took so long. With the varying descriptions of the cause of death, three within 36 hours, the government of Pakistan had lost credibility what would have been suspect anyway without the discrepancies. With them, the governments best hope was to bring in a trusted outside investigative body to look at the evidence. Scotland Yard brings enough credibility to get the job done, provided the evidence has not been too badly bungled.