Pakistan in political limbo
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistan has entered a period of political limbo, caught between Gen. Pervez Musharraf's presidential election win and a future Supreme Court ruling on whether he was even eligible to run.
Musharraf scored an overwhelming victory Saturday in a vote by lawmakers that was boycotted by much of the opposition in protest against the U.S.-allied military leader.
The country must now wait at least 10 days for the Supreme Court to either confirm the result or disqualify Musharraf because he ran for re-election while retaining his position as army chief, which the constitution prohibits.
Although the court this year has issued rulings that have shaken Musharraf's dominance, analysts question whether it would dare deny him victory and potentially throw the country into chaos. On Sunday, The Nation newspaper printed a cartoon showing Musharraf frowning toward the Supreme Court, his fingers crossed behind his back.
"The government cannot afford to take the courts for granted," an editorial in the Lahore-based daily said.
Saturday's election has gone down among the most controversial in Pakistan's turbulent 60-year history. Musharraf won 671 votes, while a retired judge who was his main rival received just eight. In all, 1,170 federal and provincial lawmakers were eligible to vote.
Musharraf dismissed criticism that the boycott had undermined the election's legitimacy.
"Democracy means majority, whether there is opposition or no opposition," he told reporters on the lawn of his official residence. "A majority, a vast majority, have voted for me and therefore that result is the result."
Also on Sunday, Pakistani soldiers backed by helicopter gunships and jets killed 65 pro-Taliban militants but lost 20 of their own men in fierce fighting in a tribal area on the Afghan border, officials and witnesses said on Sunday.
The fighting began when militants ambushed a military convoy near Mir Ali town in North Waziristan on Saturday night.
Casualties mounted as the army struck back and fresh clashes broke out in other areas close to Mir Ali, known as an al-Qaida haunt, and the fighting continued into Sunday evening, military spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad said.
He said fighter jets were also used in the operation.
"Helicopter gunships and jets are pounding the area. I could see huge flames of fire rising from the area," a resident of Mir Ali told Reuters.
Pakistan has seen a wave of violence since July, when a peace pact with militants broke down in North Waziristan and army commandos stormed a radical mosque in the capital, Islamabad.