Pakistanis dazed as reconciliation becomes emergency
03 Nov 2007 23:02:57 GMT Source: Reuters
By Ovais Subhani KARACHI, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Telephone networks went down for hours, news channels went off the air -- but news that Pakistan had been plunged into emergency rule swept Karachi, the country's largest city, before communications shut down. "This is an amazing country. In a short space of a few months we have moved from talk of reconciliation to emergency," said Amir Ahmed, an employee of a courier company. While Islamabad, the seat of government has seen armoured personnel carriers and troops on the streets, Karachi enjoyed a typical Saturday night. Ahmed had travelled to the airport to wait for his brother who came from Dubai on the same flight as opposition leader Benazir Bhutto. Having returned from self-imposed exile on Oct. 18 as part of a reconciliation process meant to pave the way to parliamentary elections in January, Bhutto had gone back to Dubai on Thursday to spend a few days with her family. When she came back two weeks ago there were hundreds of thousands of people on the streets to greet her for a homecoming ruined by a suicide attack that killed 139 people. On Saturday night there were just a couple of hundred supporters at the airport to welcome Bhutto back to her hometown. The ones who did were sure President Musharraf, a general who came to power in a coup eight years ago, had made a blunder that would lead to his downfall. "Musharraf has gone too far. Now he will not survive for long," Manzoor Abbas, a member of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party said. Firing was heard in several parts of the volatile city, notably Lyari, a neighbourhood where support for Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party is strong. Most of firing appeared to be in the air, according to witnesses, and it was unknown if there were any casualties. Housewife Asma Raheel was concerned with any impact on food prices, one of the main causes of Musharraf's plummeting popularity. "What does this mean for us common people. I hope the emergency will put an end to inflation," Raheel said. A stockbroker, who asked not to be named, was sure that emergency rule was bad news for an economy and share market that have been among the best performers in Asia. "It will stop the progress of the country. The stock market will fall, unemployment and inflation will increase," he said. Sharafat Ali, a driver standing outside a shop in the business district late on Saturday night, was downcast after the imposition of emergency rule in a country that has been led by generals for more than half the 60 years since it was formed out of the partition of India. "In the coming days, Pakistan will only see darkness. With martial law a country can never progress." (Additional reporting by Sahar Ahmed and Imtiaz Shah;)
