Once again I feel compelled to alert my friends and loved ones to my continued personal safety.
It seems that the Prez has declared a state of emergency in the country, which means that the upcoming elections will be suspended and the army will take over all levels of government. As far as I know, the declaration was not precipitated by any specific new act of violence. There has been some continuous fighting up in the very northern part of the country (Waziristan)--some of you may have heard on NPR about army personnell being killed--and I believe it was this on-going issue that the president used to justify his decision. (For more info, see the AP article at www.npr.org. Click on Weekend Edition Saturday and scroll all the way down.) This has happened many times in PK history, unfortunately.
I asked my associates here what a "state of emergency" (it sounds so dramatic) means for day-to-day life. Their answer: not much. That was kind of comforting to hear. Actually, since our school's official grand opening ceremony is tomorrow, this may have a little bit of an effect on us as our guest of honor, the Chief Minister of Punjab, is no longer technically the Chief Minister as of this evening and will therefore probably not be joining us. The ceremony, however, will go ahead as planned. So individually, I'm fine. (I actually was at a wedding tonight--just got home.)
But I'm really sad that this is happening (again) to Pakistan.
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