ANALYSIS - Bhutto death drives Pakistan into "uncharted waters"

By Luke Baker

LONDON (Reuters) - The assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has thrown Pakistan into one of the worst crises in its 60-year history, raising the spectre of widespread civil unrest and the cancellation of elections.

Analysts say President Pervez Musharraf, who stepped down as army chief of the nuclear-armed country two weeks ago under intense international pressure, is likely to seize the moment to reimpose emergency rule and cancel, or at least postpone, elections scheduled for Jan. 8.

"It is fair to assume now that elections cannot go ahead," said Farzana Shaikh, an expert on Pakistan and an associate fellow at the Chatham House analysis group in London.

"The electoral process has been stopped dead in its tracks. I think there is a very real possibility that Musharraf will decide that the situation has got out of control and that he needs to impose emergency rule again.

She said Pakistan, a key U.S. ally in the battle against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan, was entering "uncharted waters", which could lead to instability in a region that has seen three wars fought between Pakistan and its nuclear-armed neighbour India.

"This is not the first crisis Pakistan has faced since its inception in 1947, but I would be inclined to say that it is the worst convergence of crises we have seen," Shaikh said.

Bhutto, 54, died in hospital after being targeted in a combined shooting and suicide bomb attack as she campaigned in the city of Rawalpindi among thousands of supporters.

The attack killed at least 15 other people and came hours after supporters of Nawaz Sharif, another contender in the January elections and a staunch opponent of Musharraf, came under fire from gunmen, with three people killed.