Check out this more in-depth piece in the NYT about what happened with the Pakistani government when a bill was proposed to challenge the Hudood Ordinance.

As this has been an on-going discussion here, I think this is really interesting.

Some lawmakers are accusing General Musharraf of trying to push the bill through before his trip to the United States and pandering to Western values. “He is pushing himself as a liberal moderate, despite being a military dictator,� said Imran Khan, the former cricket star who is a member of Parliament.

The religious coalition has opposed any changes to the Hudood Ordinance, and refused to participate in an all-party select committee on the issue.

I mean I am sure Musharraf's intentions are complicated. But let's not ignore the countless women's activists that have been pushing for reform of the Hudood Ordinance.

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September 14, 2006 11:14 AM

[0+]  DAS said:

Some lawmakers are accusing General Musharraf of trying to push the bill through before his trip to the United States and pandering to Western values. “He is pushing himself as a liberal moderate, despite being a military dictator,� said Imran Khan, the former cricket star who is a member of Parliament.

This is an issue though -- if America, et al., cozy up with dictators with the proviso that the dictators are "liberal", then the association of liberality with dicatorship ensures a backlash associating democracy with reactionary social views.

We saw it in Iran in 1980 or so and we see it today in Pakistan. This is yet another reason why even when Bush & CO are ostensibly supporting women's rights, etc., they undermine the cause.

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