(The continuing tug of war between Internal forces and External Interference)
Gen Musharraf told the BBC that if the elections were held under disturbed conditions, Pakistan's nuclear weapons could fall into the wrong hands.Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf swears in Mohammadmian Soomro as caretaker prime ministerThe Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, says his country is safe as long as the military stays in charge.
President Musharraf has appointed Mohammadmian Soomro as PM
A senior US envoy, John Negroponte, has met Gen Musharraf in Pakistan to discuss the deepening political crisis.
Diplomats said he had delivered a very strong message calling for an end to the state of emergency.
Mr Negroponte, the US Deputy Secretary of State, was also expected to try to revive a deal between opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and Gen Musharraf. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7099372.stm>
BBC News, Islamabad
Several towns in the Swat valley have fallen into insurgent handsThere are the tens of millions of Pakistanis for whom emergency rule means almost nothing. Life goes on, shops open and close, and the kids go to school.
And there is a deep sense of disillusion with the entire ruling class, whether in or out of uniform.
Generals and prime ministers may come and go, they feel, so too democracy and military rule. But nothing much will change. And on the surface, that feels like a reasonable assumption - born of bitter experience.
But one thing is different this time, a fact which Pakistan's moderate majority acknowledges with some discomfort. The threat from Islamist militancy, from people taking up arms against the state, is greater than ever before.
It can be difficult to judge how serious the situation
is, and it is important to guard against over-dramatisation. But it is
serious. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7105961.stm>
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The area has been cordoned off by police and security forces
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Twin suicide car bombings have killed at least 30 people and injured many others in the Pakistani garrison city of Rawalpindi, officials have said.One of the blasts hit a bus packed with members of the security forces.
The result was initially put on hold until a reconstituted Supreme Court verified Gen Musharraf's right to stand while remaining head of the armed forces. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7110557.stm>
Mr Sharif is popular in the Punjab province
Former Pakistani Prime Minster Nawaz Sharif is set to return to Pakistan after eight years in exile.
He left the country in 1999 after current President Pervez Musharraf toppled him in a coup.
Although Mr Sharif attempted to return in September and was turned back, he will not be stopped this time.
He is thought to have made a deal with Gen Musharraf to
prevent former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto doing well in forthcoming
parliamentary elections. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7111584.stm>
After an aborted return in September, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has come back to a rapturous welcome from his supporters in Lahore, as the BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan reports.
"I am here for the sake of democracy and the people of Pakistan," a visibly jubilant Nawaz Sharif told an emotionally charged crowd outside Lahore airport.
He had just arrived in the eastern Pakistani city after seven years in exile.
A week ago, Mr Sharif was very much a prisoner under wraps in Saudi Arabia.
He had been deported on 10 September hours after returning to Pakistan.
At that time, the only thing that could be said about his relationship with Gen Musharraf's regime was that it was non-existent.
But the return of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and her challenge to the army's hold on power has changed the picture.
Her deteriorating relationship with Gen Musharraf culminated in him taking a lightning, unscheduled trip to Saudi Arabia.
Two days later Mr Sharif and his brother, former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif, announced their return to Pakistan. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7112410.stm>
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Gen Musharraf imposed emergency rule on 3 November
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President Pervez Musharraf will stand down as head of the Pakistani army on Wednesday, his spokesman Rashid Qureshi has told the BBC.The spokesman told the BBC President Musharraf would then be sworn in for another term in office on Thursday.
President Musharraf has been under intense international and domestic pressure to give up his military role.
He seized power in a coup in 1999, deposing the civilian government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Gen Musharraf's main international backer, the United States, has grown concerned in recent months at the army's inability to rein in pro-Taleban militants and by Gen Musharraf's growing unpopularity.
It had been backing talks between President Musharraf and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who heads the country's largest political party, for a power-sharing deal.But in recent days Ms Bhutto has said that she could not work with Gen Musharraf. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7113432.stm>
The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Karachi looks at the
prospects for Gen Musharraf, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, the three
biggest names in Pakistani politics as they vie for power. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7115117.stm>
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Mr Musharraf promised elections would be held in January
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Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has been sworn in for a second term, this time as a civilian ruler, calling it a "historic day" for the country.Mr Musharraf called for "political reconciliation" and insisted polls for parliament would go ahead in January.
As he was being sworn in, about 200 lawyers opposed to his rule clashed violently with police in Lahore.
On Wednesday, Mr Musharraf stepped down as commander of the military amid heavy domestic and international pressure.
Correspondents say there will be more stiff challenges to his leadership in the weeks ahead, following his imposition of emergency rule on 3 November. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7118268.stm>
On Tuesday people in Pakistan will be replying to e-mails from BBC News website readers about what life is like in their country.Pakistan has been going through great political turbulence. This week President Musharraf is due to lift the state of emergency he declared in November. National and provincial elections are due in January.
Find out more: Q&A: Pakistan's political crisis.
Above are six people from the village of Mehra Sharif, near the capital, Islamabad. Click on the photos of the villagers to read more about them. These people and six others from Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi, will answer your questions on 18 December in a live web and TV broadcast. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/629/629/7136436.stm>
A suicide bomber on a bicycle killed five people as he blew himself up outside an army base checkpoint in north-west Pakistan.Two soldiers and three civilians died, in addition to the bomber.
The attack, which left six injured, happened at the gates of an army services centre in Nowshehra, 120km (75 miles) north-west of Islamabad.
The blast comes hours before President Pervez Musharraf is due to lift the state of the emergency in the country.
He is to address the nation on TV and radio on Saturday evening, with elections due to be held on 8 January. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7145578.stm>
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Lawyers have been at the forefront of opposition to the emergency
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Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has lifted a state of emergency and restored the country's constitution, reports say.The move, which will be welcomed by Western nations, comes ahead of national elections on 8 January.
Mr Musharraf imposed the emergency in November, arresting hundreds of people and replacing Supreme Court justices.
Elsewhere, a suicide bomber on a bicycle killed five people outside an army base in north-west Pakistan.
Two soldiers and three civilians died, in addition to the bomber.
The attack, which left six injured, happened at the gates of an army services centre in Nowshehra, 120km (75 miles) north-west of Islamabad. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7145629.stm>
One day in Pakistan: Views and news |
Six residents of Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi, have been spending the day with the BBC. They are answering e-mails sent from around the world about their lives and their country. |
One day in Pakistan: Views and news |
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Jill McGivering in Islamabad describes her day covering Pakistan for the BBC's English language online, TV and radio services. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7148767.stm> |
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Security officials said the bomber was among the congregation
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At least 50 people have been killed in a suicide attack on a mosque in north-western Pakistan, police say.The explosion tore through the mosque, near the city of Peshawar, as about 1,000 people offered prayers for the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.
Among the worshippers was Aftab Sherpao, interior minister in the outgoing government. He survived the attack but said his son was injured.
The violence comes as Pakistan prepares for a general election next month.
President Pervez Musharraf lifted a state of emergency on Saturday, saying the threat from Islamic militants had been contained.
We were saying prayers when this huge explosion occurred. It almost blew out our ear drums
Shaukat Ali, eyewitness
But in the past week there have been several suicide attacks.
Officials said Friday's attacker had taken a place among the congregation, in the second row behind Mr Sherpao, at the mosque inside his own residential compound.
"Naturally, Aftab Sherpao was the target," the politician's spokesman Salim Shah told the AFP news agency.
Witnesses said the dead included some of his police bodyguards. He later visited some of the wounded in hospital.
It was the second apparent attack on Mr Sherpao - a close ally of President Musharraf - in eight months.
As interior minister in the government recently dissolved by the president ahead of elections, Mr Sherpao was the country's top security official and led the government's campaign against Islamic militants.
He is running again as a candidate for parliament in the election on 8 January.
President Musharraf issued a statement condemning the "distorted thinking" of the militants behind the "abhorrent act". <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7155161.stm>
BBC News, Karachi
Benazir Bhutto's assassination has left Pakistan mournful and unsure about its future.The opposition leader and former prime minister was killed in a suicide attack as she left an election rally.
The elections may now be at risk because of her assassination.
They have been seen by both Pakistani and Western analysts as a way of bringing political stability to the country.
The vote has also been considered vital in deploying popular opinion to sideline Islamist militants sympathetic to al-Qaeda.
In the past few years, the militants have carved out sanctuaries in the tribal belt along the border with Afghanistan, and more recently they have fought intense battles with the security forces in several regions in the north-west.
There has also been a low-intensity, armed nationalist insurgency in Pakistan's largest province, Balochistan, while sectarian violence has torn at the national fabric in the country's most populous provinces, Punjab and Sindh.
This has meant that in political terms, the nation has found itself increasingly divided, with an array of disparate power centres including the military, the political parties and the militant groups. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7162194.stm>
Aftermath of blasts
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