Pakistani politics (catch all)

[tequila]

Pakistan's Musharraf, Rival Discuss Sharing Power - 29 July, Washington Post.

Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto appeared to draw closer to an improbable alliance Saturday, with a top Musharraf adviser confirming that the two had met and pronouncing the exchange "very successful."

The Pakistani news media reported the meeting Friday, but the government denied it at the time. On Saturday, however, federal minister Sheikh Rashid said the usually bitter rivals had held discussions in the United Arab Emirates aimed at creating a power-sharing arrangement. Representatives for Bhutto, who has been living in exile since 1999 and leads the country's largest opposition party, would not confirm the meeting for the record but also would not deny it.


Musharraf has been struggling in recent months with vigorous challenges to his eight-year rule. They have come both from Islamic extremists waging a violent insurgency as well as from moderate forces looking to oust the president and end military rule through upcoming elections.


With his popularity in decline, Musharraf badly needs allies. Bhutto needs a way back into the country without facing criminal charges relating to alleged corruption. She has said she wants to return for a third term as prime minister, even though that is now barred by the Pakistani constitution.


While the two leaders have vastly different visions for Pakistan, both are regarded as moderates. An alliance would probably be welcomed by the United States and other Western powers that are hoping that moderate forces can unite to battle rising militancy in Pakistan.


"The country is in a serious crisis," Rashid said in an interview on Pakistan's Dawn News television station. "So we have to move fast, and we have to move to national consensus."


Negotiations have been reported for months, but a face-to-face meeting indicates they have reached an advanced stage ...

Interesting developments - meetings between Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto now confirmed, as have been rumored for weeks. Interesting to see if a Bhutto-Musharraf alliance will coopt a significant portion of the civilian opposition that is the greatest threat to Musharraf.

[davidbfpo]

I recently attended a seminar in London and the audience were reminded by both official and un-official speakers that the secular parties in Pakistan last had 85% of the popular vote. Interestingly a similar % supported the government's action at the Red Mosque, when polled by a popular, privately owned TV station.

Whether a Bhutto-Musharraf agreement will be finalised, let alone endorsed in an election is a moot point.

dabidbfpo

[Jedburgh]

ICG, 31 Jul 07: Elections, Democracy and Stability in Pakistan

....Influential international actors, particularly the U.S. but also the EU, should rethink the wisdom of relying solely on the military. That policy is largely responsible for growing anti-U.S. sentiment among pro-democracy Pakistanis, who view Washington’s support for Musharraf’s authoritarian regime as hypocritical and unjustifiable. Full restoration of democracy would best serve the interests of both Pakistan and its Western friends. Supporting a deeply unpopular military regime is no way to fight terrorism and neutralise religious extremism. Pakistan’s two most popular national political parties are pragmatic, centrist groupings, whose political interests dictate the diminution of militant forces in the country. They are the international community’s most natural allies.

The choice in this election year is stark: support for a return to genuine democracy and civilian rule, which offers the prospect of containing extremism, or continued facilitation in effect of a slide into military-led, failing-state status prone to domestic unrest and export of Islamic radicalism domestically, regionally and beyond.

[Nat Wilcox]

Obama 'would strike' in Pakistan

Mr Obama said Pakistan must do more to end terrorist operations US presidential candidate Barack Obama has said he would order military action against al-Qaeda in Pakistan without the consent of Pakistan's government.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6926663.stm

[tequila]

Awesome. Can't wait for the Pakistani press to get ahold of this.

[tequila]

Musharraf foe wins right to return - LATIMES, 23 Aug.

Pakistan's Supreme Court ruled Thursday that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, a bitter foe of the country's president, can return from exile to lead his opposition party in parliamentary elections.

The ruling was the latest in a series of political blows to President Pervez Musharraf, an army general who has ruled unchallenged for most of the last eight years but for whom very little has gone right in recent months.

Pakistan's political turmoil is being closely watched in Washington. Musharraf, 64, is considered a crucial ally in the United States' war against the Taliban and Al Qaeda, but the depth of his commitment to quelling Islamic radicals has been questioned by some Bush administration officials and outside observers.

Sharif, whom Musharraf ousted in a military coup in 1999 and banished the following year, has emerged as the politician perhaps best positioned to pose a strong challenge to the president, whose popularity is at an all-time low ...

[tequila]

Double bombing kills at least 42 in Hyderabad - WASHINGTON POST, 25 Aug.

Two bombs exploded Saturday night in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, killing at least 42 people and seriously injuring about 50, officials said.

The first bomb went off just after 7:30 p.m. in an amusement park during a laser light show, killing nine people in an area filled with families.


About 10 minutes later, a second bomb tore through a popular restaurant, according to news reports. Television images showed terrified families grabbing their children and jumping over security barriers to get out, while thick plumes of black smoke and dust clouded the air. Bloodied victims rushed from the scene of the attack, in the city's popular Kothi market.
[Two other bombs were defused in the city later Saturday, one under a footbridge in the busy Bilsukh Nagar commercial area, and another in a movie theater in the Narayanguba neighborhood, a police official said, according to the Associated Press. Late-night movie showings were canceled across the city.


["Available information points to the involvement of terrorist organizations based in Bangladesh and Pakistan," Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh state, where Hyderabad is located, told reporters Sunday after an emergency state Cabinet meeting, the AP reported. He did not name the groups.]

One has to wonder if this is aimed at undermining relations between Pakistan & India. Rapprochement with India has been one of Musharraf's principle achievements.