President George W. Bush’s administration believes the Scotland Yard investigation into Benazir Bhutto’s death is “credible”, even though the Pakistan People’s Party has expressed incredulity at the findings.

State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey acknowledged that the issue was an “emotional” one for members of the Bhutto family and the slain leader’s supporters. But he expressed confidence in the British team’s findings.

“In terms of the investigation itself by Scotland Yard, we view this as a credible investigation by independent outside experts...We don’t have any reason why we would question the validity of their assessment,” he said.

Scotland Yard investigators determined that Bhutto was killed on December 27 after the force of a bomb blast caused her to slam her head against a lever on the sunroof of her vehicle. The report ruled out a bullet injury.

Bhutto’s supporters are skeptical of these findings and point to the fact that no autopsy was performed on her body to rule out a bullet injury. Also, they add, the crime scene was washed clean of forensic evidence soon after the attack.

PPP spokeswoman Sherry Rehman accused Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s government of “muddying the waters into this investigation by giving multiple stories right after the tragic murder.”

“We have provided our full cooperation to Scotland Yard, and have always maintained that they are working with limitations on their terms of reference in Pakistan,” she said.

Rehman said the PPP would continue to push for a UN investigation. “We are seeking a larger probe into the hidden hands that organised, financed, sponsored and perpetrated this event,” she said, adding that the party may hire private investigators to conduct the probe.

The Bush administration has been cool to calls for a UN inquiry. Asked whether he supported this PPP demand, Casey said, “It’s important for people to feel that they have a clear understanding of what happened. We aren’t proposing anything - anything particular, though, and I think it would be up to the Pakistanis to decide whether they felt they needed more review or investigation of this beyond what Scotland Yard and the Pakistani authorities have already done.”

The PPP won some support for its demand from Congress this week. A key US senator introduced legislation calling for an independent investigation into Bhutto’s slaying.

Senator Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Pakistani democracy was “seriously threatened” in the wake of Bhutto’s death. He urged a concerted effort on the part of Pakistan and the US to ensure that the government of Pakistan returns to the democratic path in the wake of her death.

Parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held in Pakistan on February 18.

Attorney-general Malik Qayyum has advised the government to release the detained legal figures for avoiding any complications in the wake of their fresh detention orders issued for 30 days.

"I am not in favour of detention of barrister Aitzaz Ahsan and other lawyers who had been put under house arrest for over three months and have advised the government to immediately withdraw their detention orders,” Malik Qayyum told reporters here..

He said he had held meetings with the authorities concerned and advised the government that the detention of legal figures could create legal complications if they were not released.

He declined to name the people had talked to but said he has advised the concerned authorities for withdrawing the recent detention orders issued for further detaining barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Justice Tariq Mahmood (retd) and Ali Ahmed Kurd.

The government, on February 2, detained Aitzaz Ahsan, a prominent opposition lawyer who spearheaded a campaign against President Pervez Musharraf a day after he was released from three months in detention. After his release, Aitzaz Ahsan had asked President Pervez Musharraf to step down.He had been detained for three months under the emergency law, and has now been placed under house arrest. He was detained soon after he tried to go to assassinated ex-premier Benazir Bhutto's residence in Sindh to express condolence with her spouse Asif Ali Zardari.

Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan was the lead lawyer of deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who was sacked by President Musharraf on March 9 last year and won reinstatement of his client. He also led Justice Iftikhar to a public contact campaign that was halted by carange in Karachi when MQM resisted his entry on May 12. Later, Aitzaz also appeared for retired justice Wajihuddin, who had challenged the eligibility of President Pervez Musharraf for contesting the office of president for second term.

Musharraf struck on November 3 by imposing emergency, purged the superior judiairyby sacking 60 independent judges of Supreme Court and high courts, suspended the constitution and shut private TV channels, besides arresting thousands of lawyers, political workers and civil society activists, including Aitzaz and his colleagues. Through a series of constitutional amendments and with a helping hand from the reconstituted Supreme Court, Musharraf legitimised his election. Most of the deposed judges, including Justice Chuadhry, are under house arrest.