How Many Nukes Does Pakistan Have?

[Kathianne]

Not good news, at least at face:


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080219/...an_election_dc

Musharraf allies face major defeat in Pakistan vote

By Robert Birsel1 hour, 10 minutes ago

The party that backs Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was headed for a major defeat on Tuesday after voters rallied to the opposition, raising questions about the future of the U.S. ally who has ruled since 1999.

As president, former army chief Musharraf did not contest Monday's parliamentary elections aimed at completing a transition to civilian rule, but the outcome could seal his fate.

A hostile parliament could try to remove Musharraf, who took power as a general in a 1999 coup and emerged as a crucial U.S. ally in a "war on terror" that most Pakistanis think is Washington's, not theirs.

The election was relatively peaceful after a bloody campaign and opposition fears of rampant rigging by Musharraf's supporters appeared unfounded.

The vote was postponed from January 8 after the assassination of former prime minister and opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in a suicide attack on December 27, which raised concern about the nuclear-armed country's stability.

Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has been expected to reap a sympathy vote and was doing well, early results showed.

But unofficial Election Commission tallies showed the other main opposition party, led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, leading in Punjab province where half the members of parliament will be elected.

No party is expected to win a majority in the 342-seat National Assembly but either Bhutto's PPP or Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), was set to be biggest.

Whichever is bigger will be best placed to lead a coalition.

....

[gabosaurus]

http://www.dawn.com

[Kathianne]

http://www.dawn.com

It wouldn't open. Then again, I think of Taleban and Al Quaeda in the mountains....

[Kathianne]

A bit reassuring:

http://corner.nationalreview.com/pos...QyNmMwMDg0ODQ=

Pakistan's Election Day [Jonathan Foreman]

The results of the Pakistani legislative elections are as yet far from clear. What does seem to be clear is that the predictions of massive vote rigging by the Musharraf government were unfounded. Of course there have been the usual irregularities, intimidations, and outbreaks of minor violence — with all the parties playing dirty in regions where they're strongest. But Musharraf has evidently not stolen the election for his own party, the PML-Q. This is a development that has taken many Western correspondents, in particular the BBC, by surprise. But then a huge amount of media energy and air time has been invested in the depiction of Musharraf as a diabolic dictator somehow responsible for all of Pakistan's problems from terrorism to poverty. It's a version of reality promoted by the country's English-speaking political class, and it's of a piece with early assertions that the apparently very low turnout in the election is caused by fear of violence rather than popular cynicism about politicians and political parties....

02/18 09:52 PM

[Mr. P]

How Many Nukes Does Pakistan Have?

Too many. Same for India.