Pakistan:

As the 60th anniversary of Indian Partition approaches, the BBC's Andrew Whitehead looks back at how and why independence from Britain meant the creation of two separate countries, India and Pakistan.

"There can be no question of coercing any large areas in which one community has a majority to live against their will under a government in which another community has a majority. And the only alternative to coercion is partition."

With those words, the last Viceroy of British India, Lord Mountbatten, announced that Britain would be granting independence not to one nation, but to two. All Britain's attempts to devise a constitutional formula which preserved India's unity while offering safeguards for the large Muslim minority had failed.  <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6926057.stm>

By M Ilyas Khan
BBC News

The story of Pakistan is one of remorseless tug and pull between the civilian and military rulers on the one hand, and the liberal and religious forces on the other.

In the process, the country has failed to become either a democracy, a theocracy or a permanent military dictatorship.

The chief casualties of this schizophrenia have been the rule of law, the state institutions and the process of national integration, with grave consequences for the civil society.

The eastern wing - now Bangladesh - that housed a majority of the country's population, seceded after a civil war in 1971.

The situation in the rest of the country is just as grim.

The 'Talebanisation' of the north-western region is one manifestation of the prevalent disorder; an unending separatist campaign by nationalists in the south-western Balochistan province is another.

Meanwhile, sectarian and ethnic tensions have kept the two largest provinces - namely Punjab, which is the bread-basket of the country, and Sindh, which is its trading and industrial mainstay - perennially instable.

How and why did all this come about? <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6940148.stm>

By M Ilyas Khan
BBC News, Islamabad

By deporting former premier Nawaz Sharif to Saudi Arabia hours after he landed in Pakistan, the country's military-led government has made a difficult choice.

It has opted for a confrontation with the Supreme Court instead of allowing Mr Sharif, an unpredictable rival, to set Pakistan's political agenda ahead of elections due later this year.

But will this choice make life easier for Gen Pervez Musharraf, the embattled president of the country? <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6987935.stm>

By Bill Law
BBC Radio 4's Crossing Continents

Pakistan girls in a class at their madrassa

Madrassas often provide education where the state does not

Pakistan's Government of President Pervez Musharraf likes to describe itself as being on the frontline of the "war on terror". But there is another related war going on, a struggle for the heart and soul of Pakistan's education system.

It is a war the government is losing. Sixty years after independence, more than six million children are not attending school. And that's a conservative estimate. Of those that are in school, something like a third drop out when they are just five or six years old.

Most will become child labourers. Other children, a very small but growing number will be radicalised into jihadists. None of them will ever realise their full potential. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/crossing_continents/6991435.stm>

By Zulfiqar Ali,
BBC Urdu service, Muzaffarabad, Pakistani-administered Kashmir

It is now two years since a devastating earthquake hit Kashmir and areas in northern Pakistan.

Much reconstruction work has been done. But thousands of people have still not been able to rebuild their homes.

Now another winter is approaching and many families will be forced to spend it in temporary shelters.

Some 275,000 houses were destroyed in Kashmir during the October 2005 earthquake.

The agency in charge of reconstruction efforts in the Pakistani-administered part says that only one in 10 people in rural areas who were made homeless will still be without a new home come winter.

But according to the Pakistani government, only 16,000 affected households have so far been paid full compensation under a rebuilding scheme.
The rest have received only some of the money due them.

The prices of construction materials have shot up. And in many cases, household incomes have gone down since the earthquake.

For many people, monetary assistance provided by the government for house-building is just about enough to lay the foundations. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7034323.stm>

Pakistani warplanes have attacked suspected pro-Taleban positions near the Afghan border for a fourth day.

The army says a total of 45 troops and 150 rebels have died so far in battles around the town of Mir Ali.

Tuesday's air strikes left 50 rebels dead, unconfirmed reports say. Locals, fleeing the area in their thousands, say many civilians died. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7036106.stm>

By M Ilyas Khan
BBC News, Karachi

At 11,000 feet, with the temperature dipping 10 degrees below freezing, an army pilot recalls how he was sweating from head to toe.

There was a fault in the engine and he might have crashed at any moment.

And while he could eject to safety, he would then be floating straight into the jaws of a death more dreadful than being charred inside a crashed jet. "This is a country where soldiers are slaughtered," he told me after his dramatic flight. "Their bodies may be found, but not their heads."

He was over-flying North Waziristan, a Pakistani tribal district on the border with Afghanistan where the army is fighting a difficult war against Islamic militants. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7036032.stm>

By Syed Shoaib Hasan
BBC News, South Waziristan

Taleban gun post

Taleban positions are well defended with no shortage of fire power

Sitting inside a cramped shop in the town of Jandola town in Pakistan's restive tribal area of South Waziristan, we are hoping to be taken to meet the man who arguably is Pakistan's most feared militant.

Baitullah Mehsud has been accused of organising some of the most devastating suicide attacks in the country.
His exploits have included the capture of over 200 Pakistan soldiers on 30 August.
The shop is full of customers, many of whom carry AK-47 rifles. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7039661.stm>

Benazir Bhutto is helped down from her truck into another car (18 October 2007)

Ms Bhutto was rushed from the scene to her Karachi residence

Former Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto has condemned the "dastardly and cowardly" suicide bomb attempt on her life.

In her first public comments since the attack, she said Pakistan was facing a battle for democracy with militants, and vowed to continue the struggle.
She said she had received prior warning that she would be targeted by four suicide bombers, and had passed this information to the government.

More than 130 people were killed in the attack on her convoy in Karachi.

Ms Bhutto, who had just returned to the country after eight years of self-imposed exile, was unhurt.

She told a news conference that before the bombing, shots had been fired at her vehicle to stop it. It was unclear whether the driver had been disabled by this gunfire, she said. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7052310.stm>

By Richard Lawson
BBC News, London

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is preparing for general elections shortly after returning to the country after years of self-imposed exile.

She came back after President Pervez Musharraf granted her a controversial amnesty from the charges in Pakistan.

The Supreme Court may yet rule that amnesty illegal. But even if it clears it, Ms Bhutto, who has been in talks about a power-sharing deal with President Musharraf, could still face several cases outside of Pakistan. One of the most advanced is in Switzerland, where in 2003 Geneva magistrate Daniel Devaud convicted Ms Bhutto of money-laundering.

In his judgment, he found she and her close associates received around $15m in kickbacks from Pakistani government contracts with SGS and Cotecna, two Swiss companies.

Mr Devaud sentenced Ms Bhutto and her husband Asif Zardari to 180 days in prison, ordering them to return $11.9m to the government of Pakistan.

"I certainly don't have any doubts about the judgments I handed down [which] came after an investigation lasting several years, involving thousands of documents," he has told the BBC.

Ms Bhutto contested the decision, which was made in her absence, and the case is being reheard, with the former prime minister now facing the more serious charge of aggravated money-laundering.  <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7064052.stm>

Pakistani policemen beat protesters in Lahore, 5/11/07

As many as 2,000 lawyers attracted the attention of police in Lahore

Police have used tear gas and baton charges to break up demonstrations by Pakistani lawyers against the country's state of emergency.

Lawyers said many colleagues were arrested as protests were dispersed in Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi.
The Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami was also targeted, saying hundreds of its members were arrested overnight.

President Pervez Musharraf declared the emergency on Saturday, saying he was acting to curb extremism.

Critics, however, believe General Musharraf was acting to pre-empt a judgment by the Supreme Court on whether his re-election last month was legal. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7078364.stm>

Lawyers protest in Islamabad on Tuesday 6 November 2007

Lawyers have been angered by the sacking of Iftikhar Chaudhry

Lawyers protest

Pakistan's sacked chief justice has called for the people to "rise up" and restore the constitution.

In a telephone address to lawyers in Islamabad, Iftikhar Chaudhry criticised President Pervez Musharraf, who imposed a state of emergency on Saturday.

He said the constitution had been "ripped to shreds" by Gen Musharraf and added it was now "time for sacrifices".

US President George W Bush has called on Gen Musharraf to end the emergency and restore democratic civilian rule.

The government crackdown against pro-democracy activists continued on Tuesday with reports of dozens more arrests. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7080433.stm>

By M Ilyas Khan
BBC News, Karachi

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was forced to dismiss rumours circulating on Monday that he had been placed under house arrest, just two days after he declared emergency rule.

1999 coup

So far, coups in Pakistan have been against civilian governments. As things stand, there is little reason to believe that Gen Musharraf, who is both president and head of the army, is in imminent danger of being removed from office by force.

There are only two groups of people who would appear to have the capacity to move against Gen Musharraf and arrest him.

One is his immediate subordinates in the army, including the heads of the intelligence services.
The other is the corps commanders who constitute the second tier of the leadership of the military.

Gen Musharraf's position depends on the personal loyalty to him of those who serve him and also the institutional loyalty of military men to their chief.

On both counts, the odds looked stacked well in favour of Gen Musharraf. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7079445.stm>

Benazir Bhutto

Benazir Bhutto wants elections to be held on schedule

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has begun talks with other opposition leaders to plan how to overturn the country's emergency rule.

Her party has so far refrained from street protests, but is planning a rally for Friday. The mayor of Rawalpindi says it will be stopped.
A top official from President Pervez Musharraf's party said emergency rule might only last two or three weeks.

But a BBC correspondent says the party has been giving conflicting signals.

Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, told the Dawn newspaper: "I'm sure it will end in two to three weeks as President Pervez Musharraf is aware of the consequences of long emergency rule."

But there appears to be a split between those members of the party advocating that parliamentary elections should be held on schedule - by mid-January - and those who want them postponed, says the BBC's Barbara Plett in the capital, Islamabad.

Threat to rally

Benazir Bhutto is in Islamabad for talks with other opposition leaders.
The United Council of Action - a religious political alliance - was present but the PML-N party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif refused to attend.
So far Ms Bhutto has not mobilised her supporters to join street protests, which have been led by lawyers and civil rights activists. 

The Pakistani government should return to democratic rule and procedures as soon as possible

Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary General

Pakistanis anxious and angry

West faces new dilemma

Hundreds of protesters have been arrested as police have stamped out demonstrations.

Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has vowed to hold a rally on Friday in Rawalpindi, just outside the Pakistani capital, despite a ban on such demonstrations.

The aim is to increase pressure on President Musharraf to meet her two main demands - to give up his role as head of the army, and to hold elections - says the BBC's Shaoib Hasan in Islamabad.

"We denounce the government ban, and want to make it clear that our supporters and leaders will reach Rawalpindi for the rally," Babar Awan, a senior PPP member, told the Associated Press (AP) news agency.

However, the mayor of Rawalpindi, Javed Akhlas, vowed: "We will ensure that they don't violate the ban on rallies, and if they do it, the government will take action according to the law."

He told AP there was a "strong threat" of another suicide bomb attack against Ms Bhutto, who survived an assassination attempt on 18 October that killed more than 140 people.

Diplomatic row

Meanwhile the diplomatic pressure on Pakistan to end its state of emergency continues.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has insisted the country should return to civilian democratic rule.

A Pakistani protester is arrested

Protests have been continuing, with many participants being arrested

He called for the release of political leaders and lawyers detained during the crisis in Pakistan and for restrictions on the media to be removed.

Pakistan's ambassador to the UN, Munir Akram, dismissed the demands.

"We think it's an internal matter and the United Nations has no business to pronounce itself on that," he told the BBC.

The UN Security Council, meanwhile, has been silent on Pakistan, in contrast to the stance it has taken recently over Burma, says the BBC's Laura Trevelyan at the UN.

The Security Council's mission is to deal with threats to international peace and security.

But Pakistan is seen as a country where the US has influence and is actively applying pressure, our correspondent says.

The Pakistani government's crackdown on pro-democracy activists continued on Tuesday with dozens of arrests reported.

The country's sacked chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, called for his countrymen to "rise up" and restore the constitution.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7082232.stm>

Pakistani police stand guard outside the residence of Benazir Bhutto 9 November

Ms Bhutto's residence has been sealed off by police

Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has been served with a temporary detention notice.

The move came as she tried to leave her Islamabad home, which has been blocked off by police to stop her joining a planned rally in nearby Rawalpindi.
Police in the city clashed with Ms Bhutto's supporters defying a ban on rallies imposed under emergency rule. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7086272.stm>

By Syed Shoaib Hasan
BBC News, Islamabad

Police arrest protester in Islamabad, 8 November 2007

Hundreds have been arrested under emergency rule

Is Pakistan's military ruler General Pervez Musharraf stepping back from the brink?

His announcement that elections will be held before 15 February suggests a softer approach to some.
Many believe Wednesday night's phone call from US President George W Bush played an important part in the declaration.

President Bush said he had told Gen Musharraf he expected him to hold elections as scheduled and step down as army chief.
Subsequently, the White house upped the ante saying US patience with Gen Musharraf was "not unlimited".
   
Observers say Ms Bhutto's presence has been critical in forcing Gen Musharraf into a position where he has to give up substantial power

Those watching Pakistan's crisis say domestic pressure from former Prime Minster Benazir Bhutto has also been instrumental.

She has threatened to call her supporters onto the streets if Gen Musharraf does not agree to restore the constitution, announce a schedule for elections and quit his military post.

Ms Bhutto also added a demand that those rounded up since the emergency was declared should be released. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7085851.stm>

Pakistan's attorney general has said the country's state of emergency could be lifted within a month. Will this help ease tensions in the country? <http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?forumID=3776&edition=2&ttl=20071110093417>

By Lyse Doucet
BBC News, Pakistan

The imposition of emergency rule in Pakistan this week is another setback for anyone hoping for the restoration of democracy. The move came shortly after the return to Pakistan of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. She was put under house arrest on Friday although the detention order was lifted the same day.

I often have this strange sense of deja vu in Pakistan, a feeling of having been through this before - seen it, and done it.
 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7086729.stm>

Pervez Musharraf

Gen Musharraf took power in October 1999

President Pervez Musharraf has said he hopes new parliamentary elections can be held in Pakistan by 9 January.

He tasked the Election Commission with preparing for the vote for national and regional assemblies, and said it was up to them to determine the exact date.

Gen Musharraf was addressing his first news conference since declaring emergency rule on 3 November.
He said that had been his most difficult decision. But he did not say when emergency rule would be lifted.

His allies abroad and critics at home have been urging him to bring the emergency to an end.
They question whether free and fair elections can ever be held while constitutional safeguards are suspended.
 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7089294.stm>

The Pakistani government says a planned march by opposition leader Benazir Bhutto from Lahore to the capital, Islamabad, is illegal.

A government spokesman said that Ms Bhutto would not be allowed to break the law.

The march, due to start on Tuesday, is part of her campaign against President Pervez Musharraf's emergency rule.

Meanwhile, the Commonwealth is meeting to discuss possible sanctions against Gen Musharraf's government.

The United States has been pushing for Gen Musharraf to accept Ms Bhutto into a power-sharing deal to help shore up his war against Islamist extremists. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7090457.stm>

By M Ilyas Khan
BBC News, Karachi

Benazir Bhutto addressing supporters outside her home in Islamabad 9-11-07

Some observers say the political falling-out is a tactical move

Pakistan's military ruler, President Pervez Musharraf, has finally set a date for national elections, meeting a key demand of opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto.

But he has stopped short of putting a time-limit on emergency rule, which was invoked on 3 November, or giving a date for his retirement as army chief.

Ms Bhutto has been urging Gen Musharraf to make a clear stand on both, or face street protests.

The two leaders have been locked in talks for several months on how to get to what Gen Musharraf has described as "full democracy".

But his move to impose the emergency has caused an ostensible falling-out between the two, both considered crucial by the West to Pakistan's fight against Islamist extremism. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7087570.stm>

By M Ilyas Khan
BBC News, Karachi

Iftikhar Chaudhry

Mr Chaudhry insists he is still legally chief justice

In the current upheavals in Pakistan, one thing appears certain.

Military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf will not entertain letting former Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry back into his job.

On Sunday he lashed out at Mr Chaudhry again, calling him corrupt and a hurdle in the way of the smooth working of the government.

He told journalists in Islamabad that the entire problem of the judiciary boiled down to one individual, Mr Chaudhry, who he sacked as part of the state of emergency introduced on 3 November.

If that is the case, then why have so many other judges also been sacked, Mr Chaudhry asks? <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7094523.stm>

Pakistan police try to block political activists during a rally in Peshawar

Political activists are continuing to protest against emergency rule

Pakistan's attorney general says he expects President Pervez Musharraf to resign as army head before 1 December.

Gen Musharraf has promised to step down once the Supreme Court validates his new term as president - a decision is expected in the next few days.

Meanwhile, Gen Musharraf is finalising a new, caretaker government to run the country once the current parliament's term expires at midnight local time. State television said an announcement was expected later on Thursday.

The interim government is expected to take Pakistan into parliamentary elections due in January.

It comes as the two main opposition leaders, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, say they have begun talks on forming an alliance. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7096381.stm>

Bhutto now says she is unwilling to share power with Gen Musharraf

Benazir Bhutto has been released from house arrest in Pakistan, reports say.

The opposition leader was placed under a seven-day detention order on Tuesday in Lahore, where she had been planning a mass protest march.

Police said the order had been lifted - but there are reportedly still dozens of officers outside her residence.

A new prime minister, Mohammedmian Soomro, has been sworn to act as the head of an interim government until parliamentary elections next year.

President Pervez Musharraf says the move, which follows the dissolving of parliament at the end of its five-year term on Thursday, marks a transition to democracy. But General Musharraf's critics say he has demonstrated no commitment to democracy in the past.

Opposition leaders say the interim government is not neutral and will rig the elections.
 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7097611.stm>