Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has asked Britain's Scotland Yard to investigate the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in what appears to be an attempt to regain credibility from an angry electorate.

In a televised speech on Wednesday, Musharraf called for calm after it was announced earlier in the day that elections scheduled for Jan. 8 had been postponed until Feb 18 due to recent violence and torching of election offices.

He also said riots and looting that took place in the days since Bhutto's death are unacceptable.

"My brothers and sisters, this situation is intolerable and the government has to tackle it and stop it forcefully and with an iron hand," Musharraf said.

"Immediate action is required in the situation and the first of all is that I have asked the prime minister to set up a coalition to estimate the full damage and also pinpoint that which were the elements who were behind this damage."

The postponement of the elections by six weeks came despite warnings from opposition parties that any delay to the scheduled vote would be unacceptable.

But opposition leaders seemed to have changed their tune after Musharraf's speech, said CTV's Steve Chao, reporting from Islamabad.

"The opposition parties all came out following Musharraf's speech saying they will participate in the elections, however they are still very skeptical about how sincere the government will be in having free and fair elections."

Chao said Musharraf's speech is being viewed as an attempt to assure people he is doing everything possible to ensure Bhutto's assassination is properly investigated and coming elections are free and fair.

Violence seemed to have abated in Pakistan on Wednesday, suggesting the tactic may have been successful.

"It has calmed down a great deal following the days of rioting and days of fury that we saw in the aftermath of Benazir Bhutto's assassination," Chao said.

However, Chao added, many are still concerned opposition parties will continue to protest as they promised to do if the elections were delayed.

One woman told CTV News she is leaving Pakistan for Canada because of the political unrest.

"I don't see how things are going to work here," said Rifat Mani, a restaurant owner in Pakistan. "I wish to God they would but I don't see how."

Mani plans on coming to Canada as a landed immigrant.

A new election date

Qazi Mohammed Farooq, head of the election commission, said on Wednesday that it was impossible to meet the earlier date because of the violence and chaos that has followed Bhutto's assassination.

Meanwhile, anonymous U.S. officials on Tuesday said that the government had provided Bhutto's aides with a steady stream of intelligence about threats against her.

According to AP, they told her to improve her security ahead of the election, specifically to limit public appearances, beef up security detail and get better armoured vehicles.

Bhutto, however, had blamed her poor security on Musharraf. In an email released after her death, Bhutto accused Musharraf of blocking a number of security upgrades she had requested from the government.

On Tuesday, while election officials were meeting with politicians to discuss the possible delay, Sen. Latif Khosa, a former aide to Bhutto said Bhutto had been planning to release a report that accused the current ruling party of trying to rig the coming election, The Associated Press reports.

Bhutto had planned to give the 160-page report to U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, and Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island, according to Khosa. She said Bhutto was to have handed over the report at a meeting scheduled for a few hours after she was killed.

There is no word on whether her slaying was linked to the report.

Also on Wednesday, Pakistani troops clashed with suspected militants in a remote, rugged region near the Afghanistan border, leaving 25 suspected militants dead.

The deaths came just hours after four Pakistan troops were abducted in the same district, army spokesperson Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad told AP.

With a report from CTV News' Paul Workman