Bhutto

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- President Pervez Musharraf promised yesterday to lift his emergency decree by Dec. 16, but opponents expressed skepticism that he would fully roll back the repressive measures he imposed nearly a month ago. The pledge came hours into Musharraf's tenure as a strictly civilian leader, which he touted as proof of his commitment to democracy. Taking the oath of office for a new five-year presidential term in the morning, the former general defended his decision to declare emergency rule and chided the West for "unrealistic" expectations about the nature of democracy in Pakistan.

To Javaid Manzoor, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was more than the dynamic populist he believed was capable of propelling Pakistan toward true democracy. She was also a friend. When Manzoor's mother died in October, Bhutto visited her friend's Potomac home to offer condolences, making it her first stop upon arriving in Washington for a busy political trip. Manzoor, who had worked closely with Bhutto as president of the Washington chapter of her Pakistan People's Party, was stunned and distraught yesterday to learn of his hero's assassination.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- The Pakistani government is expected to drop all corruption charges against exiled former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, an indication that a power-sharing deal has been reached that would help embattled President Gen. Pervez Musharraf hold onto power. Musharraf made another key move yesterday, naming his likely successor as army chief. Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, a former head of the Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency, will become vice chief of the army Monday and take the top job when Musharraf leaves it, a military statement said.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- A day after being placed under house arrest, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto drove through the streets of Pakistan's capital yesterday, stopping several times to get out of her bulletproof SUV and shake hands. But police stopped her from meeting the country's suspended chief justice. Bhutto's short road trip could mean that the government is trying to improve its poor public image since embattled President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency Nov. 3. The country's attorney general also said the emergency would last only a month, although other government officials said the timeline is not yet certain.

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration, struggling to find a way to keep Gen. Pervez Musharraf in power amid a deepening political crisis, is quietly prodding the Pakistani president to share authority with a longtime rival as a way of broadening his base, according to American and Pakistani officials. Musharraf, a key U.S. ally since the Sept. 11 attacks, has lost so much domestic support in recent months that the American officials have gotten behind the idea that an alliance with former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto would be his best chance of remaining president.

KARACHI, Pakistan -- By foot, bus and bicycle, thousands of fervent followers of Benazir Bhutto converged yesterday on Karachi, preparing to welcome the former prime minister home today after eight years in exile. Bhutto's expected return to this sprawling, chaotic port city adds a complex new dimension to Gen. Pervez Musharraf's months-long struggle to retain his presidential powers. Bhutto and the general have reached agreement on some elements of a power-sharing alliance, but deep mistrust persists on both sides.

Benazir Bhutto's assassination yesterday poses huge dangers to Pakistan - and to every nation concerned about such issues as Islamic militancy, the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the future of Afghanistan. It destroys the well-intentioned efforts of the Bush administration to foster a compromise that could lead to a restoration of democracy in Pakistan. It is also a serious blow to President Pervez Musharraf. He will be blamed for the attack, even if - as seems probable - it was carried out by forces opposed to his rule.

BENAZIR BHUTTO has twice been dismissed as prime minister of Pakistan. Her rival, Nawaz Sharif, has had that distinction only once. But as the decisive winner of yesterday's parliamentary election, she gets a chance to even the score.This was an election without shiny brights. It was an exercise in jaded disillusion. The real message of the historically low turnout, estimated at one voter for four eligible, was that Pakistanis feel betrayed by all politicians. The real loser was Pakistani democracy itself, which has been ruled either by autocratic generals or elected but discredited politicians.

KARACHI, Pakistan -- The most famous residence in Pakistan is the walled compound at 70 Clifton Road, the house of the Bhuttos, perhaps Pakistan's most famous and most troubled family.This was the home of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was prime minister until he was overthrown and hanged in 1979. And the home of his son Murtaza Bhutto, who was killed a few yards outside the entrance in a shootout last year with police. And the home of his daughter Benazir Bhutto, who spent months there under house arrest and then twice became prime minister.

THE FIRST woman prime minister of an Islamic country, Benazir Bhutto disappointed all who thought she might bring stability, democracy, human rights and peace to Pakistan. She did not.Deposed by the president of Pakistan for the second time, eight years after her first election, Ms. Bhutto is only 43 and as bright and persuasive as ever. She will be, as she has defiantly made clear, heard from again.President Farooq Leghari, a former supporter, gave compelling reasons for dismissing her, including the reign of murder in Karachi, rampant corruption and her power struggle with an independent judiciary.

SYLHET, Bangladesh -- The new Pakistani prime minister is distancing his government from the U.S.-sponsored "war on terror" that President Pervez Musharraf carried on for six years. In so doing, Yousaf Raza Gillani is reviving a stance typically adopted by Pakistan's democratic regimes that succeeded pro-American dictatorships. "Dictators always supported American policy to make themselves accepted" internationally, Peshawar University anthropologist Jamil Ahmed told me during a recent trip through Pakistan's tribal areas.

ISLMABAD, Pakistan -- Deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, an icon of resistance to the rule of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, emerged late yesterday from nearly five months of house arrest. He was freed as the first act of a Benazir Bhutto loyalist elected as prime minister hours earlier. It was the latest tumultuous twist in a Pakistani political saga that over the past year has seen the fall from grace of the U.S.-backed Musharraf, the Dec. 27 assassination of Bhutto and the triumph of her party in last month's elections.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- The party of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto picked a respected but lesser-known party leader yesterday as its candidate for prime minister, a move that analysts and some party insiders said could pave the way for Bhutto's widower to seek the job in a few months. Yousuf Raza Gillani, a former assembly speaker who spent more than four years in jail under President Pervez Musharraf, eclipsed Bhutto's deputy, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, who had been seen as the front-runner.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- A new parliament dominated by foes of President Pervez Musharraf was inaugurated yesterday, ushering in what probably will be a concerted effort by the victorious opposition to curtail the near-total powers the Pakistani leader once held. The buoyant atmosphere, however, was dimmed by signs of potential disarray within the newly ascendant coalition formed by the two main opposition parties after they swept last month's parliamentary elections. The party of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, which won the largest share of seats, has yet to put forth a candidate for prime minister.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Authorities arrested two more alleged militants yesterday in connection with the recent assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. The arrests took place in Pakistan's mountainous North-West Frontier Province, where a teenage suspect and a man identified as his handler were taken into custody two days earlier. One of those arrested yesterday was identified as Mohammed Akram, from the Mansehra district. Authorities said videotape taken on the day Bhutto was slain showed Akram in front of her vehicle moments before she was killed, said an investigator who asked not to be identified.

WASHINGTON -- The CIA thinks that Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mahsud and his associates, some of them linked to al-Qaida, were responsible for the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto last month, a U.S. intelligence official said Thursday. "There are strong indications that Baitullah Mahsud was behind the Bhutto assassination," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. "There is certainly no reason to doubt that Mahsud was behind this."

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Two new reports on the assassination of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto last month suggest that the killing might have been a plot rather than an isolated act of violence and that the government of President Pervez Musharraf knows far more than it has admitted. A police officer who witnessed the assassination said a mysterious crowd stopped Bhutto's car that day, prompting her to emerge through the sunroof. And a document has surfaced in the Pakistani news media that contradicts the government's version of her death and contains details on the pistol and the suicide bomb used in the assassination.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush's senior national security advisers are debating whether to expand the authority of the CIA and the military to conduct far more aggressive covert operations in the tribal areas of Pakistan. The debate is in response to intelligence reports that al-Qaida and the Taliban are intensifying efforts to destabilize the Pakistani government, according to several senior administration officials. Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and a number of President Bush's top national security advisers met at the White House on Friday to discuss the proposal, part of a broad reassessment of American strategy after the assassination 10 days ago of Pakistan's opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Scotland Yard investigators arrived yesterday in Pakistan to help investigate the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, although the extent of their mandate was unclear. The team of British anti-terrorism officers was dispatched after Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, under intense criticism over the handling of the Bhutto probe, agreed to accept outside aid. Musharraf's government initially had rebuffed international participation of any kind in the Bhutto investigation.

WASHINGTON -- The hotel commercials show Average Joe about to perform a job requiring training and skill when Joe confesses that he's not really qualified, "but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night." Translation: He may not know much, but he's that smart. Sen. Barack Obama must have been taking notes. He may not have much foreign policy experience per se, but hey, he's traveled to visit his grandmother who lives in a tiny hut in Africa. So Americans are thinking: Yes, this makes perfect sense - especially if you squint your eyes really, really hard.