Fight, fear, hope and faith
Pakistan, a country of 173 million people that encompasses dusty plains, sublime mountain peaks and some of the world's most densely populated cities, has rarely been a placid place since it became an independent nation in 1947.
The February elections of 2008 brought Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, headed by her widower, Zardari, to power and a brief hiatus in the violence. But the new governing coalition collapsed over petty power struggles, and the militancy resumed. Twenty-nine suicide bombings have claimed more than 400 lives during 2008.
Pakistan is in crisis. Islamic extremism has metastasized from the lawless tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan to Pakistan's cities one of the most conflict-plagued regions in the world.
Yet though Pakistan has been a victim of terrorism, it has also been its enabler. © GYULA SOPRONYI