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1/1/2008 - Dispatches from Pakistan: Stumping with the Candidates by Nicholas Schmidle

Dispatches Pakistan Stumping Candidates By Nicholas Schmidle January Pakistanis scheduled polls January choose parliament election schedule adjusted following December assassination Benazir Bhutto In December January I spent several weeks traveling throughout country report campaign Though elections postponed until February these dispatches paint portrait country heading toward polls feature stories Pakistan three least reported provinces Sindh North West Frontier Province Baluchistan A different version series originally appeared Slate KARACHI Pakistan I arrived Karachi New Year Eve seaside metropolis limping normal after rioting looting aftermath December assassination Benazir Bhutto The first after instead snowdrifts blocking iveways burnt vehicles littered More buses trucks torched Karachi alone Shocked violence investors panicked Karachi Stock Exchange opened Monday morning almost percent Long lines streamed stations where pumps closed Shopkeepers tentatively opened keeping their metal shutters halfway needed close hurry Then around lunch rumor spread through politi Bhutto rival party Karachi Muttahida Quami Movement assassinated The already spooked million immediately withdrew shell Gas stations stores early anticipation violence Normalcy would another The rumors proved false That morning I Syed Hafeezuddin hopeful upcoming parliamentary elections originally scheduled January postponed until Febuary Hafeezuddin faction Pakistan Muslim League headed Nawaz Sharif known PML Nawaz In Musharraf supporters created their faction Pakistan Muslim League Q After Bhutto murder enraged supporters blamed Musharraf government least negligence failure provide adequate security prime minister Some alleged Musharraf direct nefarious As result looters attacked offices PML Q Musharraf MQM burning everything inside forcing their didates underground Meanwhile Sharif rushed hospital after Bhutto murder pledged topple Musharraf received boost because Bhutto Pakistan Peoples Party cause Sharif leads opposition Musharraf We still public campaign Hafeezuddin Hafeezuddin I headed Machar Mosquito Colony built where earlier teenage apparently killed paramilitary Rangers Hafeezuddin wanted offer funeral prayer family before buried teenager A small burned mound trash behind smelled combination sewage spoiled When residents recognized Hafeezuddin campaign posters began complain about electricity water trash removal I I lucky Hafeezuddin towered above lofty promises Then yards gunfire Unsure which direc coming people scattered sprinted cover Hafeezuddin I jumped No totally insulated security risks campaigning Hafeezuddin drove another where after Bhutto assassination organized gathering memory I leave PPP alone right The PPP riding sympathy Hafe ezuddin would election seize initiative leading agitation against Mush arraf sympathizing Bhutto I tactfully taken PPP sponsoring events Benazir honor inviting PPP supporters I events A walked street wearing T shirt Benazir belong PPP memory Zul fiqar Ali Bhutto We people Pakistan Bhuttos their memories Most pundits analysts agreed PPP poised February tions large because sympathy expected receive Hafe ezuddin understood which while Sharif originally united PPP demanding elections January planned Hafe ezuddin quietly prayed delay I sympa confided After contesting Karachi capital Sindh province where Bhuttos powerful Nonetheless following assassina seemed PPP chances winning Punjab North West Frontier Province jeopardized because ethnic dimension riots Pakistan divided provinces Punjab Baluchistan North West Frontier Province Sindh dominated different ethnic group Punjab remains important comes electoral politics since representation National Assembly roughly equal small provinces combined More majority judges lawyers detained Musharraf government after November State Emergency being Punjab under orders Punjab provincial assembly Whoever votes provincial assembly assumed right revoke lawyers detention The assassination violence occurred Sindh directed Sindhis primarily people INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS Punjab North West Frontier Province Pashtuns North West Frontier Province control transport businesses Pakistan One transporter I Karachi trailers burnt stretch highway running through province Moreover suspected PPP decision Bhutto Bilawal party would alienate voters other provinces subscribe dynastic politics sanctioned Sindhi customs feudal traditions Finally Bhutto husband Asif Ali Zardari widely perceived sleazy crook running party until Bilawal comes Zardari damage PPP national appeal Hafeezuddin projected They confining themselves interior Sindh Did Benazir Bhutto herself seeds crisis In months before Bhutto focused election campaign almost entirely Sindh Though never pitched herself Sindhi leader employed rhetoric Sindhi nationalism exhaustive campaign Sindhis impression theirs about power again At burial mourners chanted Sindhi We Don Want Pakistan Such slogans raised concerns possibility militant Sindhi nationalism reemerging during 1970s Bhutto killed because Sin woman Khaled member Jeay Sindh party calling independent Sindhi state In press conference Zardari December point saying Sindhi We Pakistan We Pakistan But damage I Khaled drove muddy rutted Lyari section Karachi worst violence It rained months pools slush sewage I chalk dating Bhutto return exile October It Urdu Go Go Kara Airport Go Hundreds thousands people never after suicide bombers targeted Bhutto motorcade We arrived local PPP office where roughly hundred women floor weeping reading Quran Bhutto memory Oh Benazir Princess Heaven sorry killers still alive chanted Afterward Nasreen Chandio PPP stalwart former member national assembly assessed impact Bhutto murder Sindhi people Sindhi national definitely ignited because people realize there representation Sindhis federation without Benazir The people Sindh become orphans PESHAWAR Pakistan A dozen circle village outside Pe shawar recent afternoon Wearing gossiped drank green The behind several wrapped blankets around themselves All belonged Awami National Party secular political party based North West Frontier Province The ANP predicted tions mostly expense Islamist parties frightened U S policymakers years This election straight fight between those those peace Asfandyar Wali Khan leader ANP He between Is lamic militants party other It between fundamentalism moderation In elections which place October Muttahida Majles Amal party Islamist coalition defeated ANP Pakistan Peoples Party other contenders margin North West Frontier Province provincial government The MMA critics ANP alleged Islamists rhetoric sympathies allowed Talibanization spread throughout regions bordering Afghanistan Sitting circle capped I asked voted MMA around One sheepishly raised That paradise Quran cusing himself When shoved Quran Vote I other choice But MMA their bungalows Islamabad everything changed They Islamabad Islam The World Bank praised MMA government fiscal responsibility health programs local perceptions corruption broken promises excessive politicking nished coalition image We expected implement Islamic tablish system justice Salauddin middle civil servant Chardsadda In MMA pledged implement sharia support Taliban Afghanistan At people couldn cared about fiscal restraint Now turned MMA because Islamists because failed fulfill their NES campaign promises What their government Acts terrorism increased under mullahs Salauddin exclaimed During suicide attacks killed people Pakistan according recent report Pakistan Institute Peace Studies Most incidents occurred North West Frontier Province Perhaps biggest challenge facing ANP desire rehabilitate image Pashtuns dominant ethnic group western Pakistan southern Afghanistan Street level supporters party leaders cited their greatest concern More million Pashtuns along Af ghanistan Pakistan border where renowned fierce fighters centuries Pashtun militias repelled British armies Sikh armies Soviet armies American NATO P akistani The jority Taliban fighting Afghanistan Pakistan today Pashtuns At moment about Pashtuns world thinks terrorist beard navel shoulders holds Kalashnikov Khan ANP chief Islamic fundamentalism destroying basic fabric Pashtun society But success ANP election campaign enough seats provincial assembly government there ruling coalition center signaled shift politics North West Frontier Province where rhetoric secular national found appeal Islamic fundamental For instance ANP proposed changing province Pashtunistan Land Pashtuns Pakhtunkhwa Pakhtun Nation The MMA tried change Dar Islam Domain Islam Khan other provinces Pakistan shared frontiers Iran Afghanistan India They frontier provinces But Sindh Punjab Baluchistan their names This matter identity According Khan ANP Pashtuns naturally brash militant people impression created Taliban If anyone reform Pashtuns image Khan family history suggests His grandfather Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan earned nickname Frontier Gandhi leading Pashtuns nonviolent resistance against British Raj during 1930s His organization became known Red Shirts which ANP supporters Ghaffar Khan opposed Muslim League outfit lobbying creation Pakistan supported Gandhi Congress Party Ghaffar Khan argued ligious identity shouldn determine country where person should denied rationale creation Pakistan Instead G haffar Khan contended ethnic identity important called creation independent Pashtunistan A before birth Pakistan fellow Muslims physically attacked being their minds Muslim lustrating tension existed between Pashtun nationalists Islamists To Islamists about their power I Mardan Ata Rahman Rah senior leader Jamaat Islami former member Pakistan National Assembly Jamaat Islami component parties MMA In December Jamaat Islami opted boycott coming elections protest against President Pervez Musharraf regime believed destined rigged elections February I Rahman several times I arrived madrassa December appeared pensive distracted He agree party decision boycott tions argued would leave field ANP He argument Jamaat Islami expected convince local people merits boycott But worried legacy Islamists behind The worst result militancy throughout region Rahman moderate Ph D Interna tional Islamic University Kuala Lumpur Malaysia comfortable speaking English Malay speaking Urdu Pashto He Islamists I heard admit called Talibanization product Islamists being government We discussed Taliban uprising nearby Swat Valley where radical cleric determined imple sharia waging insurgency against state I asked Rahman believed people disappoint MMA failure implement sharia Pakistani Taliban believing capable doing He odded slowly stared window If MMA bring sharia Swat would definitely INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS weakened militants With those alternatives anyone wonder U S policymakers paralyzed comes Pakistan QUETTA Pakistan Naiz Mohammad illiterate doesn guesses around squatted rocky hillside outside Quetta teaches More dozen caked crowded around their bellies swollen worms greenish yoing their noses A range treeless tains behind Quetta parched cityscape spread front Hundreds angular inhabited Naiz fellow tribesmen stood scattered along pitched slope Spindly desert twigs snagged shreds plastic shopping which flapped biting New Kahan Naiz village neither phone service electricity running water There government school nearby actually attend We natural cycle educating people Naiz black turban camouflage jacket For instance people today When leave Why I understand deprivation Balochis suffer Quetta capital Baluchistan largest poorest Pakistan provinces The majority Baluchistan million inhabitants Baluchis though Pashtun tribes significant minority northern province there Punjabi Urdu speaking settlers living Quetta Since Pakistan ation percolating Baluchi nationalist movement resulted insurgencies against Pakistani intensely today The nationalists argue Pakistan illegally occupied independent Baluchi state treating Balochis colonial subjects since When pectors discovered natural remote mountains Naiz ancestral village added Balochis sense perceived injustice country enjoy stovetops furnaces Naiz tribe Marri militant tionalist Baluchi tribes During 1970s rebellion against government Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Benazir father Naiz enlisted alongside guerrillas insur gency nearly rebels soldiers Then fighting rights independent Baluchistan where masters According Naiz Pakistani government punished Baluchis refusing develop province But running water electricity priorities We government bombing Naiz originally Kahan district Kohlu In 1980s after stint living Afghanistan Naiz thousands fellow tribesmen moved Quetta established New Kahan partly escape constant fighting bombardment their native lands partly because wanted their tribal chief The tribal system revolves around obedience chief sardar President Pervez Mush arraf blames sardars including Marri tribe violence instability engulfing Baluchistan Since guerrilla outfit known Baluchistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility hundreds attacks convoys installations railroads The Marris comprise leadership BLA which Musharraf declared banned terror organization April Yet BLA alone politicians writers university students their means argue independent Baluchistan And while stress nonviolent nature their NES tactics their sympathies unmist akable I BLA God remove Punjabi forces Baluchistan Mohiuddin Baluch chairman Baluchistan Students Organization I arrived Quetta early December campaign beginning paramili forces deployed streets An armored personnel carrier outside entrance hotel machine barrels poked sandbag bunkers major inter sections heavily armed convoys patrolled roads every evening after sundown Two weeks earlier BLA commander chief Marri tribe killed setting riots guerrilla attacks security forces dozens I asked Naiz considered BLA commander fallen We circumstances where dream heroes answered Independent Baluchistan And sometimes obliged carry attacks Pakistani forces achieve On first Quetta soldier standing behind stack sandbags center bullet The intelligence agencies police paramilitaries responded house house raids BLA strongholds Kohlu Quetta They cordoned New Kahan arrested Naiz fellow tribesmen In cases years young Baluchi simply disappeared kidnapped Pakistan intelligence agencies Others arrested charged treason In autumn I spent several weeks reporting Baluchistan months later nearly every person featured newslet arrested exiled A politician Quetta Baluchi missing Another described cousin kidnapped Anti Terror Force troops front nephews I asked between identity kidnappers In America children That explained Our children about intelligence agencies This Nonetheless Baluchi tribes fighting against government In Musharraf party Pakistan Muslim League stacked compliant sardars tribal chieftains Though these tribes since inception Pakistan bearing state feelings bandwagon ruling province since Anwar Haq first candidate parliamen Quetta PML ticket For these people being establishment presents opportunity personal aggrandizement Later I attended PML rally Haq where Western intelligence sources alleged Mullah Omar other Taliban leaders enjoy haven other words neighborhood where Musharraf cohorts popular Body guards assigned protect PML candidates stood nearby rooftops surrounded stage mingled crowd At point hurled landed crowd spectators With nervous smirk friend At least grenade When speak Haq leaned podium hands promoted another local candidate because sardar therefore derstands problems He added We provide education Kalashnikovs children Now decision Give deliver I asked Haq middle class divorcee tribal roots obvious constituency planned campaign New Kahan Earlier Naiz candidate visited New Kahan years although there roughly voters there Ideally party should ignore Haq answered But would people Marri areas allow there I doubt They respond certain social norms those filtered through tribe Back New Kahan I crouched beside Naiz horde children shielded cloud across exposed hillside Naiz admitted decision about whether would decided tribal chiefs Naiz participated election since I asked which leaning around Why should I Pakistani election I recognize Pakistan INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS Current ICWA Fellows Elena Agarkova RUSSIA May Elena living Siberia studying management natural resources relationship between Siberia natural riches people Previously Elena Legal Fellow University Washington School Law Berman Envi ronmental Law Clinic She clerked Honorable Cynthia M Rufe federal district court Philadelphia practiced commercial litigation New York office Milbank Tweed Hadley McCloy LLP Elena Moscow Russia volunteered environmental profits Lake Baikal region Siberia She graduated Georgetown University Law Center received bachelor degree political science Barnard College Ezra Fieser GUATEMALA January Ezra interested economic political changes Central America He ICWA fellow living Guatemala where write about country rapidly changing economic structure effects politics culture people He formerly deputy editor The Wilmington Del News Journal staff writer Springfield Mass Republican Pulliam Fellow The Arizona Republic He graduate Emerson College Boston Suzy Hansen TURKEY April A John O Crane Memorial Fellow Suzy writing about politics religion Turkey A former editor New York Observer appeared Salon New York Times Book Review Nation other publications She graduated University Pennsylvania Derek Mitchell INDIA September As Phillips Talbot Fellow Derek explore impact global trade economic growth Indians living poverty He served volunteer Swaraj Peeth institute New Delhi dedicated nonviolent conflict resolution Mahatma Gandhi thought Previously Fulbright scholar India Gandhi Peace Foundation He coordinated foreign policy research George Washington University Institute Communitarian Policy Studies worked political organizer New Hampshire Derek graduated degree religion Columbia University Nicholas Schmidle PAKISTAN February Nick freelance writer interested intersection culture religion politics Asia He Pakistan ICWA fellow examining issues ethnic sectarian national identity Previously reported Central Asia Iran His published Washington Post Weekly Standard Foreign Policy Christian Science Monitor elsewhere He holds master degree International Affairs American University Raphael Soifer BRAZIL April An actor director playwright musician theatre educator Raphi Soifer Donors Fellow studying participant observer relationship between social change communities throughout Brazil He worked performer director United States Brazil taught performance prisoners underprivileged youth through People Palace Projects Rio Janeiro Com munity Works San Francisco He holds bachelor degree Theatre Studies Anthropology Yale University Institute Fellows chosen basis character vious experience promise They young professional sfunded spend minimumof years carrying designed programs studyand writing outside UnitedStates The Fellows quired report their findingsand experiences field month They write subject formally orinformally The result unique porting analysis periodicassessment international events issues ICWA Letters ISSN published Institute Current World Affairs Inc exempt operating foundation incorporated New York State offices located Street NW Suite Washington D C The letters provided charge members ICWA available libraries professional researchers Phone Fax E Web Executive Director Steven Butler Administrative Assistant Bookkeeper Meera Shah Publications Manager Ell Kozak Institute Current World Affairs The Crane Rogers Foun dation The Information contained publication printed republished without express written consent Institute Current World Affairs