More results from Pakistan
The people in the NWFP voted out of power the religious parties. I don't expect that this fact will make it to the foreign policy talking heads inside the beltway, but it means that the Pashtun resistance to the Punjabi military isn't about Islamic fundamentalists vs secular modernists. That isn't the only take-away. Is the Pashtun resistance to the NATO military a conflict between Islamic fundamentalists and secular modernists?
According to Geo TV, the combined total for the PML-N and the PPP is 139 seats, more than half of the 272-seat National Assembly, with the PPP winning 77 seats, and the PML-N winning 62 seats. The PML-Q managed to win only 34 seats.
Dawn's blogger writes:
The general mood in Pakistan is buoyant. The streets in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi are filled with youthful supporters and party activists, cars blaring traditional party music and walls coloured in PML (N) and PPP flags.
The remaining biggies? Is the PPP+PML-N+minor-parties coalition a simple or two-thirds majority? On that question hangs impeachement. Will the judiciary be restored? On that question hangs the legality of General Musharaff's re-election.
