ISLAMABAD, May 6: Prime Minister’s Adviser on Interior Rahman Malik put on a brave face in the Senate on Tuesday, promising to be tough against crime, amid swirling musings about whether he had a role in the postponement of key by-elections, with one ruling coalition partner citing him as one of alleged conspirators.

But strangely nobody in the upper house spoke about two months’ delay — to August 18 from June 18 — of the vote for eight National Assembly seats and 30 of provincial assemblies during a debate on the country’s law and order situation that the Election Commission cited as a reason for its decision on Monday that stunned major interested parties.

Malik sat through the inconclusive opposition-sought debate, appearing quite jovial as if nothing worrisome bothered him and taking notes of speeches that blamed most of the violence in the country on alleged extremists or terrorists such as in the North West Frontier Province and the adjoining tribal areas and political dissidents in Balochistan.

There were also calls from members from both the opposition and ruling coalition parties for the new government to take strong administrative and political measures to change the situation.

Though he has yet to wind up the debate, Mr Malik spoke briefly in response to an opposition member’s speech about crimes like kidnappings for ransom in parts of Sindh, and promised that the provincial authorities would be asked to take due notice of complaints from members of parliament and provincial assemblies.

He said work of provincial police chiefs would be overseen by a special inspector-general of police to be deputed in Islamabad, where a website would also be created in two to three weeks and toll-free phone number installed to take complaints.

“I assure you action will be taken if anything comes to my notice,” he said.

Although the subject was missing from speeches during the debate, the postponement of the by-elections for the second time within 20 days seemed to be on everybody’s mind in view of the sharp reaction against the decision, which the Election Commission said was based mainly on a recommendation from the NWFP coalition government led by the Awami National Party (ANP).

The NWFP government said it requested for the postponement on the advice of Mr Malik, although the federal government and the main ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) deny any knowledge about it.

But suspicions about Mr Malik’s role, fuelled by media reports and comments, persisted for the second day on Tuesday despite some apparent damage-control by the PPP, which has already suffered a prolonged embarrassment due to its apparent ambiguity about its pledge with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), its main coalition partner, for the reinstatement of 60 superior court judges sacked under President Pervez Musharraf’s controversial Nov 3, 2007 emergency.

The PML-N, for which by-election postponement meant two months’ delay for its president Shahbaz Sharif to take over as Punjab chief minister after being elected to the provincial assembly, came very hard against Mr Malik, with a call for his removal as interior adviser and trial for allegedly trying to destabilise the country possibly in league with two other men close to President Musharraf.

Reporters had been trying to talk to Mr Malik in the corridors of the parliament house during the Senate sitting but he appeared to have dodged them whenever he came to the chamber or left it after the house was adjourned until 3pm on Wednesday.

Leader of the house Raza Rabbani, who represents Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in the Senate, told reporters neither prime minister and the rest of federal government nor the PPP were on board about the election postponement.

A PPP source said that on a demand from PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, Mr Malik had explained his position to him, though no details were available.

After protesting against the postponement, the PPP has begun pressing for rescheduling the by-election to June 18, which was fixed on April 17 when the Election Commission reneged on the previous date of June 3 citing preoccupation of political parties with the inaugural sessions of the National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies elected in the Feb 18 general election.

PML-N spokesman Siddique-ul-Faruque accused Mr Malik of being behind the latest postponement and said his party was demanding an immediate inquiry by the federal government to “expose other links of the conspiracy”.

“It was a serious conspiracy aimed at destabilising the country, sowing seeds of hatred among coalition parties, depriving people of their constitutional right of electing their representatives and deceiving the NWFP government for ulterior motives,” he said.

“Therefore, the conspirator must immediately be removed from the office, a case should be registered against him in accordance with law and he be tried without delay. If we do not pursue this line of action, then other conspirators may destroy the coalition government.”

During the law and order debate, two senators from Balochistan, Abdul Rahim Mandokhel of the Pakhtunkhawa Milli Awami Party and Mohammad Ismail Buledi of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F (JUI-F) accused unidentified intelligence agencies of being involved in militant violence though they differed on how to tackle the issue.

Mr Mandokhel said the government should use both force and negotiations but that there should be a peace accord that would not allow extremists or terrorists a right to train people for violence and use them locally or send them abroad.

Dr Buledi said the government should stop taking “dictation” from the United States.

JUI-F’s newly elected senator Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri asked the government to review policies followed by the previous government and dissociate itself from the so-called war against terrorism.

DETAINEES IN SPAIN: Before the debate, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told the house that nine of 12 Pakistanis detained in Spain in January as terrorism suspects would now face trial there.