A Benazir Bhutto supporter at a protest in Rawalpindi on Saturday. (Reuters)

Islamabad, Dec. 29 (Agencies): Former Premier Nawaz Sharif met Benazir Bhutto’s husband Asif Ali Zardari today to urge him to boycott the January 8 polls even as raging violence threatened to derail Pakistan’s transition to civilian rule.

The election commission called an emergency meeting on Monday to assess the impact of the riots that have killed 44 since Benazir’s assassination on Thursday.

Among those killed were three Benazir supporters who were shot dead, one by masked gunmen and two others by security forces as a mob tried to storm an oilfield, police said.

Interior ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said rioters had destroyed 176 banks, 72 train cars and 18 stations.

The poll panel said several of its offices in Benazir’s home province Sindh were set on fire and electoral rolls destroyed. Roads were littered with broken glass and burnt vehicles.

Sharif, whose PML(N) plans to stay away from the polls, met Zardari and other leaders of Benazir’s Pakistan People’s Party to urge them to join his boycott. “I’m going there and will try to convince them,” Sharif said in Lahore before setting off for Sindh. The PPP has called a meeting tomorrow to decide whether to participate in the vote.

US President George W. Bush asked Pakistanis to honour Benazir’s memory by going ahead with the polls Islamabad’s western allies hope would bring stability to a country emerging from eight years of military rule. But White House spokesman Tony Fratto said it was up to Pakistani authorities to “determine” the “timing”.

Yesterday, caretaker Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro said the government had no immediate plans to defer the elections.

Some analysts fear more bloodshed if the government pushes ahead as planned. “It’s very, very difficult to hold elections unless tempers cool and it’s not possible in such a short time,” said analyst Talat Masood. Factories, stores and restaurants were set ablaze in Karachi, the volatile capital of Sindh. Thousands ran riot in Rawalpindi near Islamabad, smashing property and clashing with police.

“There’s a lot of rioting going on in my neighbourhood,” Ali Khan, 36, country manager for Audi Pakistan, said as he stood outside his Audi garage in Karachi.

The violence disrupted Internet and telephone links between Islamabad and Karachi.

State-run Pakistan Television said Musharraf called Zardari and promised to make every effort to bring his wife’s killers to justice. The government said it would order two probes — one by a high court judge and the other by security forces.