Word: rulings
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...many Pakistanis, however, elections with or without emergency rule won't make much of a difference. "The army was ruling before the emergency, and still it is ruling," says toy salesman Yair Khan. "Pakistan is in a continuous state of emergency." Many in the bazaars of Islamabad's slum areas share his indifference. While politics in Pakistan are often waged in the name of the poor, few in the lower classes feel that they have anything to gain. "The main rule of thumb in Pakistani politics is that everyone safeguards their own interest first. No one really cares about...
...Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte arrived in Pakistan to press President General Pervez Musharraf to lift emergency rule and step down as army chief, opposition parties, led by former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, have renewed calls for the general's ouster. This two-pronged attack on Musharraf's political plans came on the same day that he presided over the swearing-in of a 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...
...Musharraf may have a hard time finding any believers. Since he invoked emergency rule two weeks ago, he has suspended the constitution, jailed opposition leaders, muzzled the media and replaced the independent judiciary with a Supreme Court bench of his own choosing. Even Negroponte, who has previously called Musharraf "indispensable," said on Thursday that Pakistan's political process had been derailed and that he was coming to help put it back on track...
...also started releasing detained human rights campaigners and opposition leaders such as Bhutto. Two of the banned television stations have been allowed back on air. And Musharraf has set dates for elections, another key U.S. demand - although he has also transferred the power to enforce or lift emergency rule to the presidency, which means that even as a civilian President he retains extra-constitutional control over the country - and the upcoming elections...
...Musharraf maintains that emergency rule is essential for ensuring peaceful, democratic elections, and for combating extremist militancy. And, perhaps mindful of criticism that Musharraf's emergency rule has distracted security forces from the war against Islamist extremists, the military mounted an offensive this week to reverse recent gains made by Taliban-aligned militants in the Swat Valley. Critics, however, warn that by banning rallies, muzzling the press and keeping the threat of detention hanging over every political organizer, the emergency prevents the staging of a credible election campaign...