Pakistan People's Party

By Imran Khan in Asia on January 4th, 2011
An outspoken secularist, Taseer's reputation was of a tough man willing to do whatever it took to succed [Reuters]

It was my friend Omar Waraich who introduced me to Salman Taseer for the first time. Before that all I knew was that he was one of Pakistan's more enigmatic politicians who I had seen on the television.

A Pakistan People's Party loyalist who had suffered under rival regimes, he was - following the party's election victory - back in the land he loved.

But the governorship of Punjab is a fraught post, particularly if you belong to a ruling party that does not control the province. Nawaz Sharif, the former Pakistani prime minister, and his brother hold real control of the province, and they were not fans of Taseer.

Taseer, however, was a man by all accounts not afraid of a challenge. This was a man who built a business empire under the toughest conditions.

By Imran Khan in Asia on January 3rd, 2011
Most Pakistanis are frustrated with political machinations and want democracy to work [AFP]

The news that the key ally in Pakistan's coalition government has pulled out of the already fragile coalition, comes as a surprise to exactly ... no one.

In quitting government the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, or the MQM, is playing a game that is regular feature of Pakistani politics.

It's game of brinkmanship, when a political party uses its leverage to get what it wants. Normally it picks a popular issue and uses that as an excuse to put pressure on the government. In this case it's fuel prices.

We have seen this before.

After the election in 2008, this was a government built on uneasy alliances. Making up the government were the big victors - the Pakistan People's Party. Then came the smaller parties: the Pakistan Muslim League-N led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, a loose affiliation of religious parties, and the MQM.

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