Pakistan Elections Produce Strange Twist

The devout religious of trouble northwest Pakistan want sharia law, but voted for a secular government.

The religious parties that held 46 of the 96 provincial parliamentary seats won only nine this time. Moreover, they have been replaced by the secular Awami National Party (ANP)...The ANP is expected to marshal all the province's resources – police, politics, and the law – against extremism, whereas the mullahs had refused even to condemn suicide attacks. For this, Mr. Akbar gave them his vote. Yet he, like many others, says his vote was not a veto of Islamic politics. He wants a government that is fair and ethical, and he will vote for anyone to get it.

But the US military is not part of the solution, the ANP will deal with the Taliban through negotiations. And unlike Barack Obama, the ANP knows what it is dealing with when they negotiate with the Taliban.

Pakistanis basically want justice and order no matter what party gives that to them. They (the devout religious) would prefer it through sharia law, although not the kind the Taliban would enforce, but a non corrupt secular government is better than the corrupt Islamic one they just voted out.

It will be interesting to see next January if Barack Obama fulfills his campaign promise of bombing Pakistan.