Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf agreed on Sunday to “consider” international help for a probe into the death of Benazir Bhutto in a conversation with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Downing Street said.

Brown spoke to Musharraf on Sunday after a previous call on Friday and stressed the need to hold the January 8 election on time, Brown’s office said.

“The Prime Minister underlined the need to push ahead with the democratic process and to avoid any significant delays to the electoral timetable,” a Downing Street spokesman said.

“The Prime Minister also reinforced the United Kingdom’s offer of an extension to our already significant counter-terrorism cooperation.

“Potential international support to the Pakistani investigation into the tragic death of Benazir Bhutto was also raised, with both sides agreeing to consider this suggestion further.”

Pakistan’s interior ministry has ruled out international help, saying that the world community “does not understand the environment” in the country.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband pledged Saturday that the British government would make “full resources” available to Pakistan to help with the investigation into Bhutto’s death.

The Downing Street spokesman said the two sides had also agreed on the need for all sides in Pakistan “to pursue a path of reconciliation and restraint.”

Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) named her son, 19-year-old Oxford University student Bilawal Bhutto, as its new leader Sunday, with his father Asif Ali Zardari as co-chairman.