2007, a year of political turmoil in Pakistan

2007 will go down as one of the rare years in Pakistan's history when its pet obsessions -- India and Kashmir -- took a backseat because of the domestic political turmoil.

The peace process with India initiated in 2004 appeared to have taken firm roots following the launch of a number of confidence building measures like the cross-LoC bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, opening of crossing points along the LoC and the start of truck service.

But the dialogue process stalled due to disturbances in Pakistan. Both sides, however, hoped for moving it forward after the installation of a new government in Pakistan following the January 8 general election.

The fourth round of composite dialogue is yet to be wound up as Foreign Secretary-level talks could not take place in the wake of emergency in Pakistan which was imposed by beleaguered President Pervez Musharraf on November 3, leading to turmoil in this country.

2007 will be remembered as one of the most turbulent years in Pakistan's history, with unprecedented public protests and judicial activism prompting Musharraf to proclaim emergency ahead of parliamentary polls.

Musharraf, who was welcomed by many when he engineered a bloodless coup in 1999, finally lost his strong grip on power after ruling the country for eight years and appeared willing to compromise even with bitter rivals like former premier Benazir Bhutto, who returned to Pakistan after he passed a law to drop graft cases against her.

The final few months of the year were marked by protests against the emergency by the legal fraternity and civil society and fast-paced political developments, including pressure from Saudi Arabia that resulted in the return from exile of another of Musharraf's strongest opponents, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

For eight years, opposition parties hardly made any impact on Musharraf's rule despite putting up some concerted efforts. But the tide turned against the 64-year-old military ruler after he made the mistake of trying to dismiss Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on charges of corruption and nepotism.

Musharraf's attempt to sack Chaudhry in March in itself was not a major event until the defiant judge chose to walk to the apex court with his wife to appear before a panel to defend himself. TV footage of his manhandling by police took Pakistan by storm and people opposed to Musharraf's regime found in Chaudhry a new hero they could rally around.

Chaudhry toured the country and with the help of lawyers built up groundswell of public opinion against Musharraf. After a closely followed legal battle, Chaudhry was reinstated in July and this emboldened the legal fraternity to step up its campaign against Musharraf.

Matters came to a head when Musharraf decided to seek re-election from the outgoing national and provincial assemblies, and his candidature was challenged by his rivals in the Supreme Court. The apex court allowed the poll, which Musharraf swept after the voting was boycotted by the opposition, but barred the Election Commission from notifying the result.

Finding himself in political limbo and faced with a combative apex court that appeared set to scrap his re-election, Musharraf imposed emergency on November 3 and suspended the Constitution and fundamental rights. Independent TV news channels, which provided a platform for critics of the military ruler, found themselves muzzled and taken off the airwaves.

Within days, the lawyers had organised the first protests against the emergency and they were soon joined by civil society, students, the media and Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party. The international community, especially the US, stepped up the pressure on Musharraf to end the emergency and quit as army chief.

The military ruler caved in to the pressure, doffing his uniform -- which he had described as his "second skin" -- on November 28 before taking oath for a second presidential term as a civilian after a new Supreme Court comprising his hand-picked judges validated his election victory.

At the same time, he appointed confidants to key posts in the army to ensure he retained the backing of the force even after stepping down. Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani, a non-political officer, was named the new Army Chief and Musharraf also issued an order to assume control of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal.

But the political crisis diverted attention from a rapidly growing pro-Taliban militancy in Pakistan's tribal areas bordering Afghanistan and the Swat valley of the North West Frontier Province, an area just 160 kms from Islamabad where rebels established a parallel government and attempted to enforce Islamic law.

Musharraf's army action against militants holed up in Islamabad's Lal Masjid also sparked a series of suicide bombings against the military. As radical clerics ratcheted up tension with their moral policing, a siege mounted by the Pakistan Rangers ended with the military action on July 10 which left nearly 100 people dead, including radical cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi.

Dozens of people, most of them military personnel, were killed in subsequent suicide attacks, including some that targeted high-profile military installations in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.

As the resurgent opposition parties hit the campaign trail for the January 8 polls, Musharraf lifted emergency while at the same time amending the Constitution in a last-ditch effort to consolidate his weakened position.

However, Sharif and his brother Shahbaz's nomination papers for the polls were rejected due to the court cases against them.

But if the ruling PML-Q performs poorly in the election and the opposition parties join hands after the polls throw up a hung parliament, as they are widely expected to, Musharraf might find himself faced with a fresh crisis in 2008.