Things are going better in Pakistan than I feared. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in now President Musharraf, period. Not General and President Musharraf.
He promised to quit his military role, and be a civilian leader, and delivered: not on the timetable he originally gave, but he did quit.
Maybe he'll end emergency rule by December 16, as he says he will, and restore the Pakistani constitution in time for the January elections, too.
Musharraf has two former prime ministers back in Pakistan now. He's let them know that things are going to be okay with the election, and that he expects them to participate. "Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif have come back, and a level playing field has been given to (their parties). Now it is the responsibility of these and other parties to prepare for the elections, and participate fully," is how he put it.
The two former PMs have threatened to boycott the election. I suppose there's a point to trying not to win an election you want to win - like when the election is obviously rigged.
Musharraf's recent rounding up of political opponents, and now holding an election with very little lead time, seems perilously close to "rigging."
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