Musharraf's Woes Go Deep

**CHUQ** · Agitator Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts votes: 3

Bhutto to return! Will she be met with the same greeting as Sharif? Or did Musharraf cut a deal?

Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto will return to Pakistan from an eight-year exile on Oct. 18 to campaign for office, her party said Friday. The government said she was free to come back but would have to face corruption cases against her.

Makhdoom Amin Fahim, vice president of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, said she would land in Karachi and would bring democracy to Pakistan. Supporters, throwing flower petals and lighting firecrackers, chanted: "Long Live Benazir! Prime Minister Benazir!"

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**CHUQ** · Agitator Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts votes: 3

Seems a deal has been struck with Bhutto. She returns to Pakistan in Oct and Musharraf gives up being head of army in Oct. This will be worth watching.

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf plans to stand down as army chief by 15 November, an official from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML) says.

Gen Musharraf will resign from the powerful post after the presidential elections, said Mushahid Hussain Sayed, the PML's secretary general.

He is seeking re-election by parliament before its term expires in mid-October.

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**CHUQ** · Agitator Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts votes: 3

He is sly a little sh*t!

President Musharraf of Pakistan announced yesterday that he would step down as army chief by November 15, ending eight years of military rule in a country on the front line of the War on Terror.

But adversaries immediately rejected the proposal as an undemocratic ploy to prolong his rule over the Muslim nation of 165 million despite escalating opposition from Islamists and moderates alike.

General Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, wants to be elected as President in a poll due by October 15, before calling parliamentary elections due by mid-January.

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**CHUQ** · Agitator Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts votes: 3

This is one way to stack the ballot boxes--too bad they cannot do this in the US.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Police swept the Pakistani capital on Saturday to arrest the leaders of opposition parties vowing to obstruct President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's re-election bid, officials said.

Security officials said police in Islamabad had orders to take some 35 opposition leaders into preventive custody — many of them linked to the prime minister overthrown by Musharraf or a coalition of Islamist parties opposed to the president's alliance with the United States.

SOURCE

**Tumbleweed** · Admin Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts votes: 4

I see that Bin Laden has now taken upon himself to make Pakistan his new battle cry. This is a serious turn of events. This area is about to explode in turmoil.IMO.

**CHUQ** · Agitator Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts votes: 3

I would say that is why Musharraf keeps postponing the elections. He sees that it will probably plunge the country into turmoil and the US cannot stand for that.

**CHUQ** · Agitator Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts votes: 3

Yep this is how a democracy handles opposition.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Police intensified a crackdown Monday that opposition parties say has left hundreds of activists in custody while the Supreme Court dismissed three challenges to the re-election bid of Pakistan's military leader.

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**Tumbleweed** · Admin Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts votes: 4

Sounds like they have a lot of unhappy opposition leaders. When they start jailing them that can't be good.

**CHUQ** · Agitator Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts votes: 3

That is one way to try and guarantee he will win an election. I bet the Repubs are just livid because they cannot do that in the US.