Islamist Politicians Emerge As Pakistan's Power Brokers

Islamist Politicians Emerge As Pakistan's Power Brokers

Just after night fell at a campaign rally last Thursday, conservative Islamist politician Khalid Waqar heard the news: Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan's best-known secular politician, was dead.

Here in the Northwest Frontier Province, just miles from Afghanistan and Pakistan's wild tribal areas, Mr. Waqar heard scattered cheers. There was the crack of rifle shots, he recalls, in apparent celebration of the former prime minister's assassination.

He hushed the crowd.

"We are all Muslims," he said. "Benazir was faithful to her country. This is a sad day for Pakistan." Then the 46-year-old Mr. Waqar -- a member of a coalition of religious politicians that some critics accuse of fostering the religious radicalism that Ms. Bhutto vowed to curb -- led a prayer for her.

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