Word: sharif
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...caretaker government to run the country until parliamentary elections slated for early January. Pakistan's parliament dissolved at midnight on Thursday, completing its full five-year term for the first time in the country's history. And Musharraf, the general-turned-President who overthrew Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 1999, claimed credit for restoring democracy in Pakistan. "I take pride in the fact that, being a man in uniform, I have actually introduced the essence of democracy in Pakistan," he said at the ceremony. "Whether anyone believes...
...activists, would be massively strengthened by the backing of a political leader with national, grass-roots support. "Bhutto has finally come to our side," says Ahsan Iqbal, spokesman for the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz party, which is led from exile by Bhutto's longtime foe, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. "There can now be a common agenda. With complete unanimity of goals, there is no reason why we can't all come together to get rid of Musharraf...
...Court, which had begun to challenge the government's extrajudicial detentions and examine potentially corrupt privatization schemes. In July it reinstated Chaudhry, and when the Musharraf-Bhutto deal was announced, the court questioned the general's right to drop a slew of corruption charges against Bhutto and to keep Sharif in exile. In early October, after Musharraf was re-elected President by the Parliament and state assemblies--the opposition parties all boycotted the process--the court began hearing challenges as to whether the vote and Musharraf's candidacy were constitutional. The decision was meant to be handed down before...
...like the traditionally moderate Swat Valley, where an Islamist militia is waging a bloody campaign to establish Shari'a law, will become even harder. "Pakistan is very religious, but it is not extremist," says Ahsan Iqbal, information secretary for the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz, the party led by Nawaz Sharif. By making this a battle between secular values and extremism, Iqbal says, Musharraf is seeking to justify his actions and appeal to moderate Pakistanis. But Iqbal doubts it will work, as even moderate Muslims have had enough of military rule. "Musharraf is pushing a large chunk of moderate but religious...
...there's little real danger of extremists coming to power, no matter what happens to Musharraf. The Pakistani army is still largely secular. The main political parties--Bhutto's PPP and Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League--are moderate. But continued U.S. support for an unpopular Musharraf may complicate Washington's relations with any future civilian government. Pakistanis see Musharraf as America's man and regard U.S. calls for democracy as insincere. "Musharraf is an enemy of Pakistan," says Akhtar Qazi, a 71-year-old retired schoolteacher with anger to match her brightly hennaed hair. "We sacrificed our lives for Pakistan...