Let’s Continue Our Conversation…in London
Shahbaz Sharif, president of the Muslim League-Nawaz, tells BBC Urdu that “If Musharraf becomes neutral and promises to hold the polls in a free and fair manner, talks can be held with him.” This is a major break with precedent. Previously the Sharif brothers have publicly ruled out any compromise [...]

Musharraf: Uniform off by end of month; doesn’t budge on emergency rule (ER)
White House: Free and fair elections not possible under ER; Negroponte arrives on Friday
Army support of Musharraf appears to remain strong
Swatting Swat: Full-scale army-led operations in effect; Internally-displaced persons in the thousands
Caretaker prime minister to be appointed on Thursday; Muhammad Mian Soomro leads [...]

Musharraf suspends constitution, declares emergency rule, and imposes Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO)

Transmission of news channels shut down in Pakistan
Supreme Court Chief Justice sacked, arrested and replaced with Musharraf loyalist
Over 1500 civilians arrested
Senior figures jailed or house arrested:

Lawyers’ movement: Aitzaz Ahsan, Munir Malik, Ali Ahmad Kurd, Tariq Mehmood, Ikram Chaudhry, Syed Muhammad Shah, and Ahsan [...]