Update

I haven't updated for a couple of days due to internet access problems. Here's a quick update that gives you a sense of how surreal Pakistan is these days:

-Assemblies completed their term on Thursday, Nov. 15 and were dissolved at midnight. On Friday, a caretaker PM, Soomro, took oath in which he pledged to uphold the constitution. Of course Pakistan does not have a constitution right now, thanks to the man who administered the oath, Gen. Musharraf (he was wearing a sherwani, by the way, not a uniform).

-An financial analysis of parliamentarians found that Shaukat Aziz, the former PM, holds 93% of his assets in the U.S. and the U.K.

-John Negroponte, U.S. diplomat, arrived in Pakistan today to have talks with various actors to try to salvage the deal that the U.S. had hoped to put in place. This is the same Negroponte who oversaw the massacre and torture of thousands of people in Honduras and Nicaragua during the 1980s. Most recently, he served as the U.S. ambassador to Iraq. So he should fit right in in Islamabad.

-On Thursday, the chief of the army staff, Pervez Musharraf, gave the authority to lift "emergency" to the president, Pervez Musharraf. I know it sounds like they're the same person, but there's an easy way to tell the two people apart. The chief of the army staff has a General before his name. Also, he wears an army uniform. If he's in a sherwani or a suit and tie, it's the president you're dealing with. See, it's easy. By the way, this bizzaro-world transfer of authority is actually a very sly act on Musharraf's part because it means that he keeps his current powers even after he leaves his military post.