Because of the ongoing technical problems with (whatever), I am unable to link this New York Times piece; however, you need not the link to show how the U.S. is consistently interfering in other peoples' political processes.
"Partner Leaves Pakistan’s Cabinet" by JANE PERLEZ
".... During his election campaign, Mr. Sharif stressed the importance of restoring the chief justice, Mr. Chaudhry, a maverick judge whose rulings infuriated Mr. Musharraf. The Supreme Court was considering the legality of Mr. Musharraf’s second five-year term and seemed poised to rule against him, when the president abruptly dismissed the judges in November.
Mr. Chaudhry, a country lawyer from Baluchistan, a remote province, upset the Musharraf government, and the United States, by demanding that the secret services and the police explain the whereabouts of hundreds of Pakistanis missing in secret detentions.
Pakistan's own Citizen Imprisonment Program!!!
Mr. Ali, the legal adviser to Mr. Sharif, said the breakdown over the judges came in part because the Bush administration was concerned that Mr. Musharraf be protected, for the time being at least, and not be made vulnerable to rulings by Mr. Chaudhry.
Mr. Ali said there was a perception that Mr. Zardari had given an understanding to the Bush administration that Mr. Musharraf be granted a “safe exit,” six to nine months from now, a period which coincides with the end of Mr. Bush’s term. “It’s the perception that the Americans fear if the judiciary is restored, Musharraf will lose face,” Mr. Ali said.
Editorials and articles in Pakistani newspapers have asserted that the United States was meddling in the coalition crisis.
“Any ambassador would make a courtesy call to Asif Zardari,” said Athar Minallah, a leader of the lawyers’ movement that has campaigned on behalf of the fired judges. “The American ambassador has made up to a dozen, including one the day after the coalition announced on March 9 they would restore the judges within 30 days.”
The assistant secretary of state for South Asia, Richard A. Boucher, visited London over the weekend to talk to Mr. Sharif and Mr. Zardari, who were holding last-ditch negotiations there on the judges. The American Embassy in Islamabad issued a statement afterward saying Mr. Boucher’s visit was part of his “regular interactions” with Pakistan’s political leaders.
In question now is the future of the lawyers’ movement that made Mr. Chaudhry a popular public figure last year by campaigning for him at huge rallies around the country.
The public, suddenly burdened with an economic crisis of wheat shortages and high energy prices, is starting to express disenchantment with the new government for concentrating on the judges at the expense of basic bread-and-butter issues.... "
Yeah, it is one of our TOADY GOVERNMENTS STILL!!
So much for 'elections," 'eh, Pakistanis?
This is the same experience we Americans had when we 'elected" a DemocraP Congress!
