Benazir Bhutto, or BB as she’s know in Pakistani media, planned to march across the country. The government deemed it illegal, and said they’ll do what they need to stop it. BB refused to restart negotiations with General Musharraf and decided to protest in Rawalpindi. They put her on house arrest.

And simultaneously, the brazen heads of Islamabad told the world there was no cause for alarm. Sure, we’re saying there’s an emergency. But we’ll still planning on holding elections - January 9th to be exact.

But if the response to BB’s dissent during emergency rule is any indicator, the elections might suffer the same shortness of breath that’s become endemic to Pakistan’s emergency.

Pro-democracy Pakistanis are either frozen behind political prison bars or in the streets with stones in fist. Their protests are made into gasps, overshadowed by megaphones and military uniforms. In this emergency, only one man’s pleas emerge audible. But to whom is he promising this peace and order and elections? When his speeches… are in English.