Pakistan News

Early results show Pakistani opposition parties have made “big gains” in elections that could determine the future of President Pervez Musharraf, the former ruling party and officials said Tuesday.

The parties of former premier Nawaz Sharif and slain politician Benazir Bhutto opened up a lead over the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League-Q after Monday’s crucial parliamentary polls, they said.
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‘Since you were so kind as to greet us in London at Downing Street last month, the President would like to return the favour,” announces Major-General Rashid Qureshi, President Pervez Musharraf’s PR man over the phone. Only in Pakistan could the government’s head of spin be a retired major-general. He is referring to my last encounter with the President on 28 January – when, along with a 2,000-strong, placard-waving, slogan-jeering mob, I protested on the main road outside 10 Downing Street while Musharraf discussed democracy with Gordon Brown over lunch inside. On the way in he waved at us. Clearly he’s a man who is not afraid of confrontation.
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Pakistanis voted Monday for a new parliament in elections shadowed by fears of violence and questions about the political survival of President Pervez Musharraf — America’s key ally in the war on terror.
The vote was delayed six weeks after former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on Dec. 27, and polls opened Monday amid tight security.

“We pray to God that there is peace,” said Kanwar Mohammed Dilshad, deputy chief of the Election Commission. “We pray for record turnout.”
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