Ritwik said:
From a editorial page article by Vikram Sood in the Hindustan Times a couple of days after the Mumbai warnings. The HT website should have the article I think.
And apart from the voter turnout, I think you'll be better advised to find out how many of the candidates who contested stood for the notion of an "autonomous" Kashmir and how many women were allowed to contest.
If you read my post carefully, I've refrained from blaming whatever government exists in Pakistan (I do stand by the "military" comment however). I've only raised the possibility that elements who do not want the world to get an accurate representation of the situation in "azad" Kashmir might have been involved in this situation. You really can't blame me for talking without a lead, since the Pakistan Foreign Minister Kasuri also linked the blasts with the Kashmir issue, to general outrage.
Well what Kasuri did was stupid. If people didn't think Pakistan had a hand in this, they will now. From what I read he was just expressing his opinion, but you have to be careful what you say when you're in that position. As for the notion of Pakistani government being behind the attacks, I seriously doubt that we have a good enough reason left to risk stalling the peace talks with India. Quite frankly, we can't afford to, it'd be a huge loss, financial and diplomatic.
Musharraf's military ways have raised my eye brows quite a few times, but to be brutally honest, his ways are much less dictatorial than our "democratic" governments of the recent past. Until he has done what he has set out to do with the domestic structure, I'd have him over anybody else.
I unfortunately have to rely on either Pakistani or Indian sources for my news about AJK, both of which are extremely biased, so I really have no comment on what goes on in either side of the LoC.
As for the 5%, I raised a question because I read different from a neutral source, and believe me when I tell you I have been trying like hell to find it.