Word: benazir
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With a massive show of force, Islamabad police prevented former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto from leaving her house to lead an anti-emergency rule rally today. Police in riot gear and body armor sealed off nearby streets. District Magistrate Kamran Cheema was on site at 7 a.m. to direct police positions. "This is all for the protection of her personal self," he said. "We have had reports that suicide bombers may target her. She is not under house arrest and she is free to leave." His concern for Bhutto's well-being was somewhat belied by the four rows...
Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has been Musharraf's unlikely ally in this process, sometime combative, sometime conciliatory. Oxford-educated and the first woman to lead a post-colonial Muslim state, Bhutto is the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was Pakistan's Prime Minister between 1973 and 1977. Zulfikar was forced out of power by General Mohamed Zia-ul-Haq, who later had him executed for killing a political opponent, a charge Benazir and her supporters continue to deny three decades on. This year, as Musharraf's popularity plummeted, a U.S.-approved deal between the President and his former...
...things aren't so clear. With the anarchy along the border with Afghanistan - Pashtunistan, as the Pakistanis call it - promising to spread, with Benazir Bhutto promising mass demonstrations, the courts closed and Musharraf promising the army will put down civil disobedience at the same time as he promises democratic elections in February, it's hard to tell where the generals stand...
...that's just the start. With Benazir Bhutto now under house arrest, it's unclear where her supporters in the army stand. And if Musharraf really were to hold a free election in February, who would win? The last time there was a free election in the Middle East, Hamas won in Gaza...
...draconian regime of martial law that has plagued the country since Saturday. The White House responded with praise - "We think it is a good thing that President Musharraf has clarified the election date for the Pakistani people," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. But former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto opted for a wait-and-see attitude. "We don't want vague and generalized statements,"? she told a press conference on the eve of a massive anti-emergency rally planned for Friday. "We want up-front answers...