Word: islamabad
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...national identity. Those who speak for religion wield enormous influence over a nuclear-armed nation of 165 million that is a key U.S. ally in the global war on terror. This has prompted a race to define the country's founding principles. That contest culminated in the streets of Islamabad last spring when the female madrasah students launched their vigilante campaign against CD shops and massage parlors. "The government point of view is that we challenged the writ of the state, but we believe that the government is challenging the writ of God," says 16-year-old Asma Mazar...
...have earned him widespread opprobrium, it was perceived to be a cynical, and successful, bid for support from the West at the expense of his own people. "There has been a failure in our Islamic obligation to condemn people like Fazlullah and Mehsud," admits Al-Ghazali, the imam of Islamabad's Faisel Mosque. "But you know the man who is championing this anti-extremism cause is a very unpopular man. Musharraf is identified with this cause so much, that if they initiate a move against this extremism, they are perceived to be supporting the government and Musharraf...
...long now that it may well become the Pakistani leader's political epitaph. He may need one soon. Three days after voters in parliamentary elections overwhelmingly rejected Musharraf's ruling party - and by extension Musharraf's own presidency - White House officials are digesting the reality that their man in Islamabad might not be in power for much longer...
...Forming a new government will take time, though, and its first business is far more likely to be in Islamabad than in the lawless mountainous areas where al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters are based. If the coalition plan announced Thursday by leaders of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led by ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is implemented, there is even a chance Musharraf will be impeached...
...year. Both the PPP and the PML-N have said they will seek talks with the militants. In theory, that might be something the U.S. could live with (not that it would have much choice), although it is sure to push for a continuing military role as well so Islamabad can negotiate from a position of strength, says Bruce Riedel, a former top CIA and NSC South Asia analyst. "If you get a credible government," says Riedel, "it'll be better positioned to move against al-Qaeda. All the atrocities that al-Qaeda has been conducting in Pakistan...