UNITED NATIONS A leading American newspaper Wednesday called it a political retreat the request by President Asif Ali Zardari to delay for two weeks the release of a UN fact-finding report that is expected to criticise Pakistans security establishment in connection with the assassination of his wife, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, in 2007. The move represents a political retreat by the Pakistani leader, who requested the UN probe during his first weeks in office but who now faces challenges to his authority on several fronts, The Washington Post wrote. In New York, the UN Commission that investigated the assassination will not reopen its probe in response to the Pakistan governments claim that two heads of state may have new information, a UN spokesman said Wednesday. In a dispatch, the Post noted that the Pakistani parliament is moving to strip him of powers he inherited from the former military government, and the Supreme Court is set to reopen two corruption cases against him. Pakistan pressed the United Nations on Tuesday to reopen the investigation to consider new evidence. Pakistans presidential spokesman, Farhatullah Babar, said that the UN Commission should question two unidentified heads of state that he claimed had called Bhutto before her death to warn of serious threats to her life. But the United Nations said that the investigation is complete. The fact-finding panel, headed by Chiles UN ambassador, Heraldo Muoz, conducted a nine-month inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the Dec. 27, 2007, attack after an election campaign rally in Rawalpindi. The assassination, just 10 weeks after Ms. Bhuttos return from exile, sparked riots throughout Pakistan. POINTS IN THE REPORT The Report does not place blame on individuals for ordering the killing, The Washington Post said, citing UN officials. But it sharply criticises Pakistans military for not providing (Ms) Bhutto with adequate security that day, and it also faults the former military government for allowing the crime scene and (Ms) Bhuttos vehicle to be washed shortly after the killing. Citing a senior UN-based diplomat, who has met with members of the Commission, the Post said the Report is also consistent with the findings of a Scotland Yard team that concluded Bhutto was killed by a single suicide bomber who blew up her vehicle. The team did not determine whether someone ordered the killing. The last-minute request for a delay comes about 18 months after Zardari personally appealed to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to conduct a wide-ranging probe into his wifes killing. At the time, Zardari said he was less interested in holding the killers accountable than in having the United Nations produce an exhaustive document honouring Ms. Bhuttos democratic crusade in the face of Islamist extremism. Im not looking to hang three 17-year-olds who were misguided by someone, Zardari said in a September 2008 interview with The Washington Post. We are fighting for a cause that is larger than us. On Tuesday, Zardari asked the UN chief to delay the release of the Commissions report on his wifes killing from Tuesday until April 15 and the UN Chief agreed. UN Spokesman Martin Nesirky was asked Wednesday whether the three-member Commission planned to question the two leaders. Babar declined to say which heads of state he was referring to, saying it would be unethical, but he said questioning them can make the Report more credible. It was unclear why the Commission had not spoken to them. The Commissioners have seen a considerable amount of relevant information, including whats been in the news media in recent days, he replied. After conferring in the light of that latest information, they continue to say to us that they have concluded their work, Nesirky said. Bhutto was killed in a Dec. 27, 2007, gun and suicide-bomb attack as she was leaving a rally in the garrison town of Rawalpindi, where she was campaigning to return her Pakistan Peoples Party to power in parliamentary elections. The government at the time of Ms. Bhuttos murder, led by President Pervez Musharraf, blamed Baitullah Mehsud, a militant commander. Officials at the US Central Intelligence Agency also said Mehsud was the chief suspect. But the PPP repeatedly hinted that Musharraf or his allies were involved and demanded a UN probe, claiming it was the only way the whole truth would be revealed. The Secretary-General agreed to appoint a Commission to assist Pakistan by determining the facts and circumstances of Bhuttos death and it began work on July 1, 2009. Under terms agreed to by the UN and the Pakistani government, the Commission was to determine facts and circumstances surrounding the assassination but Pakistani authorities would determine any criminal responsibility. Nesirky stressed that the Secretary-General and the Pakistani government have not seen the Commissions report and will not see it until its official release on April 15.