Image Day - Nawaz Sharif's election

Nawaz Sharif waves to supporters during an election public-meeting in Sanghla-Hill, Lahore on February 8, 2008. The elections slated for January-8 were delayed due to the unrest following the assassination of Benazir-Bhutto.

> Getty Images

Teen Arrested in Bhutto Plot

A 15-year-old detained near the Afghan border has confessed to joining a team of assassins sent to kill Benazir-Bhutto, officials said on Saturday.

Police also announced they had foiled new suicide attacks against the country's Shiite-minority.

In the southern city of Karachi, meanwhile, the police chief said officers detained five men with explosives, detonators and a small quantity of cyanide intended for attacks on this week's Shiite Muslim festival of Ashura.

Via Time-Magazine

Pakistan's Shia-Sunni divide

Differences between Pakistan's Sunni-majority and Shia-minority go back to the schism following the prophet's death. But in the past two decades those differences have been manifest in repeated-violence.

Related-Verse >
Those who split up their Religion, and become (mere) Sects,- each party rejoicing in that which is with itself! (The Romans - Verse 32)

Zia's legacy >
Most sectarian violence in Pakistan takes place in the province of Punjab and the country's commercial capital, Karachi.

There have also been outbreaks in Quetta.

Musharraf is not the only Pakistani leader to have such-problems. Most analysts agree it began in 1979, when Zia ul-Haq began Islamicising Pakistani politics.

Via In2Verses

Desi-Digest: Bomb-Kills 10 in Pakistan

A bomb blast in the Pakistani city of Karachi has killed at-least 10.

Police say at least 50 others were wounded when a bomb planted on a parked motorcycle went off Monday in the city's Quaidabad area. It is not immediately clear who was behind the attack.

The attack comes just-days after troops killed a number of militants in a tribal area near South-Waziristan, targetting Taleban and Al-Qaeda safe havens.

Via VOA

Desi-Digest: Bomb-Kills 24 in Pakistan

A suspected militant walked into a crowd of police guarding a courthouse and blew himself up, killing 24 others in an attack, the first in Pakistan since the assassination of Benazir-Bhutto.

"There was a huge bang," said Munrian Bibi, 60, a school cleaner caught in the blast as she headed home from work. "I saw people falling on ground crying for help. I don't know what saved my life from that hell," she said.

There was no claim of responsibility. The government has blamed previous attacks on so-called Islamic radicals. Bhutto's supporters have-questioned whether elements within the government may have played a role.

Via AP

Desi-Digest: Pakistan elections delayed

A spokesman for Pakistan's election-commission has said that holding parliamentary elections as scheduled on 8 January "looks impossible". But Kanwar Dilshad said the final decision would be reached on Wednesday after consulting political parties.

There are no grounds whatsoever for delaying the elections.
Raza Rabbani, deputy secretary general, PPP

Mr Dilshad told reporters that protests had directly affected the organisation of the poll in some parts of the country. "We will inform the political parties about the situation in Sindh where our 13 offices were burnt," he said.

Via BBC

Desi-Digest: India on Pakistan Crisis

In the six decades since an independent India and Pakistan rose from the flames of the bloody partition of the subcontinent, the South Asian rivals have stared at each other across heavily armed frontiers with implacable hostility, fought three wars.

India put its troops on a higher state of alert after the emergency was declared and again after the Bhutto-killing.

India's stock market dipped slightly the morning after the killing with investors concerned about instability in the region. By the afternoon, it had resumed its climb.

News reports focused equally on the Cricket team's performance against-Australia.

It's not that India is no longer worried about Pakistan — it is, deeply. But a decade of sustained economic growth — pegged at about 9 percent this year — has transformed India into a global economic player, giving it self-assurance.

"The general confidence level in India is much higher," said C. Uday Bhaskar, a prominent New Delhi-based defense analyst.

A continuing peace process between India and Pakistan since 2004 also done much to reduce India's anxiety over the possibility of a Pakistani attack.

"Our greatest fear is the large scale movement of terrorist activities through Pakistan," said retired Gen. Ashok Mehta, a strategic analyst in New Delhi.

In an attempt to strengthen democracy and stability in Afghanistan, India has donated some $750 million to reconstruction efforts since the Taleban fell, according to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, making it the third-largest donor.

Perhaps India's greatest problem is that while its relations with Pakistan have improved, it may not know whom to deal with there in the future.

Via AP

Image Day - Benazir Bhuttto's heirs

Newly-appointed chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of slain former premier Benazir-Bhutto watches his father Asif Ali Zardari (L) speak during a press conference in Naudero, 30 December.

The son of slain Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was chosen to take the mantle of her party and immediately vowed to keep up what he called her struggle for democracy. At an emotional news conference where his father was named co-chair of the Pakistan Peoples Party, the 19-year-old Bilawal Bhutto, an Oxford-University student untested in politics, said he was ready to lead.

> AFP/Getty Images

Desi-Quotes: Benazir-Bhutto Documents

"Most of those documents are fabricated ... and the stories that have been spun around them are absolutely wrong."

Was said in: Bhutto's son, husband to succeed her

Benazir Bhutto - Experts Reflect - Part two

Seen on: YouTube

After a look at recent NewsHour interviews with Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan experts and former colleagues of the late prime minister reflect on her political career, including her election as the first female prime-minister in 1988.

> Benazir Bhutto - Experts Reflect - Part one

Benazir Bhutto - Experts Reflect - Part one

Seen on: YouTube

After a look at recent NewsHour interviews with Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan experts and former colleagues of the late prime minister reflect on her political career, including her election as the first female prime-minister in 1988.

> Benazir Bhutto - Experts Reflect - Part two

Desi-Digest: Bhutto cover-up

Karachi, Pakistan (CNN) -- A top aide who helped bathe Benazir Bhutto's body after her death said it was clear that the former Pakistani prime minister suffered bullet wounds to her head, contrary to a government reports.

Pakistan Peoples Party information secretary Sherry-Rehman, who was riding in the car behind Bhutto's when it was attacked, called the government's conclusion that Bhutto was not shot "the most bizarre-nonsense."

Brief-Obituary: Benazir Bhutto

Benazir Bhutto followed her father into politics, and both of them died because of it - he was executed in 1979, she fell victim to an apparent suicide -attack.

Like the Nehru-Gandhi family in India, the Bhuttos of Pakistan are one of the world's most famous political dynasties. Benazir's father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was prime minister of Pakistan in the early 1970s.

Born in 1953 in the province of Sindh and educated at Harvard and Oxford, Ms Bhutto gained credibility from her father's high profile, even though she was a reluctant convert to politics. During both her stints in power, the role of Ms Bhutto's husband, Asif Zardari, proved highly controversial.

Many commentators argued that the downfall of Ms Bhutto's government was accelerated by the alleged greed of her husband. Ms Bhutto left Pakistan in 1999 to live abroad, but questions about her and her husband's wealth continued to dog her.

Related Links >

• Life in pictures: Benazir Bhutto
• The Legacy of Benazir Bhutto

Via BBC

Pakistan - Emergency or Democracy?

Seen on: YouTube

Restoration of "democracy" is an extension of emergency conditions.

Based in New Delhi, Aijaz Ahmad is The Real News Network Senior News Analyst and a political commentator for the Indian newsmagazine, Frontline.

News Video: Pakistan mosque blast

Seen on: YouTube

A suicide attacker detonated a powerful bomb inside a crowded mosque in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing at least 50 people and injuring 80.

An attack inside a mosque during Eid al-Adha, one of the most important Muslim holidays, represents an escalation of violence by militants who have carried out an unprecedented number of suicide bombings this year.

The holiday, which means "Festival of Sacrifice," marks the end of the Hajj and celebrates Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son.