Goose chase:

President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan has bow-ed, somewhat, to domestic pressure and called in Scotland Yard to help figure out who killed Benazir Bhutto. A credible investigation is urgently needed and Musharraf — who has no credibility of his own — needs all the help he can get.

Unfortunately, the ex-general immediately raised doubts about how much freedom the British police will have to do their job. Even as he insisted that he wants to know how his political rival really died, he insisted that no government officials were involved and warned against investigators going on a “wild goose chase.” That doesn’t sound encouraging. He delayed this week’s planned parliamentary elections until Feb. 18. For the vote to have any hope of legitimacy Musharraf must release jailed democratic activists and lawyers, lift press restrictions, allow international monitors to observe the polling, and permit Nawaz Sharif to stand for election.

The weaknesses of Pakistan’s democracy go beyond Musharraf. That Bhutto’s political party quickly chose her husband — long tainted by charges of corruption — and her college-student son as its leaders underscores the system’s feudal nature.

Real democracy will take a long time to build in Pakistan, but it’s the only path to stability. And it needs to start now. — International Herald Tribune