When Pervez Musharraf launched into a litany of his achievements in his farewell speech to the nation as Pakistan's president on 18 August 2008, he was probably unaware
If the vast majority of Chinese people resentwestern carping about alleged human rights violations on the eve of theOlympics, this sentiment is widely shared across the third world. In Pakistan,
Pakistan's newly minted coalition government, in office only since 25 March 2008, is presently lurching from one crisis to another. Its political core, the partnership between the Pakistan
Even as newly elected legislators were sworn in at Islamabad’s imposing national assembly amidst tight security on 17 March 2008, Pakistanis remained unaware who their next prime minister is
The elections in Pakistan on 18 February 2008 have transformed the country's political landscape. The reports of pre-poll rigging were confounded, the spin Musharraf tried to put on
The combination of a wet and freezing winter, a partial boycott, and the forty-day mourning period following Benazir Bhutto’s assassination on 27 December 2007 has meant that the campaign
The week of violence and rioting in Pakistan followed Benazir Bhutto's assassination on 27 December 2007 in Rawalpindi saw fifty-eight people killed. The turmoil has continued, with a
Also in openDemocracy on Benazir Bhutto's death:Kanishk Tharoor, "Benazir murdered: what next?" (27 December 2007)
Ayesha Siddiqa, "Pakistan: after Benazir Bhutto" (28 December
A month before the elections scheduled for 8 January 2008, Pakistani political parties are still intensively debating the pros and cons of taking part. The two large opposition groupings -
So far, Pervez Musharraf's coup against his own government has gone off without a hitch. The judiciary has been emasculated. His military high command is supporting him unflinchingly.
Pervez Musharraf's announcement on 11 November 2007 elections would be held in the first week of January 2008 surprised nobody. After all, Pakistan's president had achieved
Pervez Musharraf's second coup, or "emergency plus" as it is being referred to in the Pakistani media, was widely expected by the time it was finally