Foreword
The nation of Pakistan has been much in the newsrecently, mostly for negative reasons. On November 3, 2007, the country’spresident, Pervez Musharraf, issued an emergency declaration cracking down onan uncooperative judiciary and stifling free speech and assembly. Although thestate of emergency was lifted the following month after a domestic andinternational outcry, on December 27, former Prime Minster Benazir Bhutto, thecharismatic head of the most influential opposition party, was assassinated inan orchestrated shooting/suicide bombing attack that also killed 60 bystanders.Because of the incident, and the widespread protests that followed, Musharrafsuspended the nation’s upcoming parliamentary elections, which have beenrescheduled for February 18….
