The three-member UN panel said her death could have been avoided if Musharraf’s government and various security agencies had taken adequate measures. It also found that the probe into her death was deliberately hampered by intelligence agencies.

The Thursday report was hailed by the PPP, which now governs Pakistan and is led by President Asif Ali Zardari, Bhutto’s widower. Zardari aide Farahnaz Ispahani said “the report will pave the way for a proper police investigation and possible penal proceedings.”

Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said the report backed up the PPP’s belief that Musharraf or his allies were responsible for Bhutto’s death. But Musharraf aide Rashid Qureshi insisted the UN report was based on rumors and that Musharraf was not responsible. “This chief UN investigator was not the relative of Sherlock Homes,” Qureshi said.

Meanwhile, analysts said on Friday Pakistan may be reluctant to thoroughly investigate the assassination as called for by the UN report for fear of antagonizing its security establishment,.

“The blame has been fixed on the previous administration, especially for those who were responsible for her security,” said Hasan Askari Rizvi, a political and security analyst.

“Now the challenge for the government is to carry out its own investigations. There will be pressure on the government and even within the Pakistan People’s Party to proceed against those (security) officers who are still in service.” But authorities hesitate to explore too deeply, especially the possibility that the army or security forces played a role, as the report suggests they may have.

Pakistan’s powerful army and its pervasive ISI intelligence agency have been described as a state within a state.

“There is no will to really delve into all kinds of linkages which implicate people who are still in the know, who are still in the country,” said Simbal Khan, acting director of the Eurasian Studies Institute of Strategic Studies.

“I think it will be very difficult for them to convince everybody that this is going to be a real thorough investigation. It will be something that will be put on the backburner again.” The report questioned why former Rawalpindi Police Chief Saud Aziz gave approval to the ranking police officer at the crime scene to hose down the area, a move that damaged evidence. It quoted unnamed officials who said the order may have come from military.

Asked to comment on the findings, Aziz told Reuters: “There will be further investigation and I will give my answer.”

A more intense investigation of the assassination may prove embarrassing to a government already pressed to tackle a range of issues, from a Taleban insurgency to crippling power cuts.