5 Minute Guide: Pakistan
Updated on 21 November 2007
Get the essentials with our 5 Minute Guide.
What happened?
He's a military dictator, but also a key ally in America's "war on terror". And he has nuclear weapons.
Pervez Musharraf took power in a military coup in 1999. Pakistan has oscillated between military and civilian rule since independence.
Such was the corruption of the regime General Musharraf overthrew, many were relieved at the takeover.
But he installed a tame parliament and retained most power for himself, leaving only the judiciary as a centre of opposition. The judiciary did at least retain some independence of spirit.
Musharraf was due to be sworn in for another five-year term as president on 15 November. The Supreme Court challenged his election by parliament, as the constitution says a serving soldier may not be president.
Musharraf responded by suspending the Court, arresting hundreds of lawyers, taking TV news channels off the air - what he calls a "state of emergency", but his opponents call martial law.
Why does it matter?
Pakistan is a large, unstable country in the middle of the world's most volatile region.
The supply route through Pakistan is essential for NATO forces in Afghanistan. Pakistan receives large amounts of military aid especially from the USA to fight Taliban style groups in its own territory.
The tribal areas in the northwest pay little heed to the legislators of Islamabad, and many in the Pushtun areas in the north feel much closer to their ethnic confreres in Afghanistan than the Sindhis and Punjabis who rule the country.
The North West Frontier province provides safe harbour to Taliban groups who are fighting western forces in Afghanistan.
What happens next?
The international community is pressing Musharraf to lift emergency rule and hold elections scheduled for January. But he insists he will hold the poll without restoring the constitution.
This means most opposition leaders are likely to boycott the election including Benazir Bhutto, who had previously been negotiating a US backed power sharing deal with Musharraf.
Many analysts see Pakistan as inherently unstable, and prey to Islamic fundamentalists. This is seen as especially serious as it has nuclear weapons and an outstanding border dispute with India.
Key players
Benazir Bhutto
Leader of a semi-feudal Sindhi clan, Chairperson for Life of the Pakistan People's Party, Graduate of Oxford and Harvard, and daughter of executed Prime Minister Zulfikar Bhutto, she was the first woman elected to lead a Muslim nation.
She had been in self-imposed exile since 1998, although returned to Pakistan in November after corruption charges against her were lifted. She survived an attempted assassination, and is under periodic house arrest.
Pervez Musharraf
A career soldier who fought in the 1965 war with India, Pervez Musharraf took power in a military coup in 1999.
Though he held elections in 2002, he has run Pakistan as a de facto dictatorship ever since.
Nawaz Sherif
Opposition leader overthrown by General Musharraf, and leader of the other major opposition polictical party the Muslim League.
Now living in exile in Saudi Arabia. He also faces allegations of mammoth corruption while in power. He tried to return to Pakistan this year, but was refused entry.
