PAKISTAN TO KEEP SCHEDULED ELECTIONS

IF THIS IS TRUE, THEN WE HAVE A LITTLE LESS TO WORRY ABOUT: BBC:

Pakistan's prime minister says national elections will be held as scheduled, despite President Pervez Musharraf's declaration of emergency rule.

Elections are due by mid-January, but there were fears they might be abandoned because of the crisis.

Police have broken up street protests and hundreds of lawyers and opposition activists have been arrested.

US President George W Bush called for Gen Musharraf to call elections "as soon as possible".

The Pakistani president said he had declared the emergency to stop the country "committing suicide", because the country was in a crisis caused by militant violence and an unruly judiciary.

Critics, however, believe Gen Musharraf was acting to pre-empt a judgment by the Supreme Court on whether his re-election last month was legal.

Election timetable

The government had suggested parliamentary polls could be delayed by up to a year.

• STABILITY IN PAKISTAN IS AN IMPORTANT NEED RIGHT NOW. IT TRUMPS EVERYTHING ELSE.

• WHEN MUSHARRAF'S POLITICAL OPPOSITION FIGHTS AS VOCIFEROUSLY AGAINST THE JIHADISTS AS THEY DO AGAINST MUSHARRAF, THEN THEY WILL BE READY TO SHARE POWER DEMOCRATICALLY.