[JURIST] Asif Ali Zardari [BBC profile], the husband of slain former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto [BBC obituary; JURIST news archive], called again Saturday for a UN-led international investigation into the circumstances surrounding his wife's assassination [JURIST report]. This is the second time Zardari has called for a UN-led inquiry [JURIST report] similar to the ongoing probe into the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [JURIST news archive]. Zardari accused members of President Pervez Musharraf's ruling regime of involvement in the assassination and rejected any investigation involving the Pakistani government as illegitimate. Musharraf has acknowledged mistakes in the handling of the case, including hosing down the site hours after the attack, but has insisted that Pakistan can run its own probe with the assistance of Britain's Scotland Yard. The United States has already taken the posiiton that a UN investigation is unnecessary.

Bhutto was assassinated [JURIST report] December 27 at a political rally in Rawalpindi. She was campaigning in the lead-up to parliamentary elections then scheduled for January 8, where her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) [party website] was challenging Pakistani Prime Minister Pervez Musharraf's Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) [party website]. The elections have since been postponed [JURIST report] to February 18. AP has more.