LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Pakistan: United States
built 277 days ago
Earlier today, Amnesty International and eleven other human rights groups sent a letter to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice urging the U.S. to suspend all security assistance to Pakistan until recent repressive measures are reversed. In the letter, the human rights community explained how Musharraf's declared state of emergency "flies in the face of the Administration's policy of supporting freedom and democracy as an antidote to extremism" and should not be excused.
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Measured by purchasing power, Pakistan has a 30 million strong middle class enjoying per capita incomes of $8000-$10,000, according to Dr. Ishrat Husain, Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan. In addition, Pakistan has a growing upper class with relatively high per capita incomes.
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In Feb., 1956, a new constitution was finally adopted, and Pakistan formally became a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations; Gen. Iskander Mirza became the first president. Economic conditions remained precarious, even though large shipments of grain from the United States after 1953 had helped to relieve famine. In foreign relations, Pakistan’s conflict with India over Kashmir remained unresolved, and Afghanistan continued its agitation for the formation of an autonomous Pushtunistan nation made up of the Pathan tribespeople along the northwest frontier. Pakistan joined the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization in 1954 and the Central Treaty Organization in 1955. After 1956 the threat to the stability of the Pakistan government gradually increased, stemming from continuing economic difficulties, frequent cabinet crises, and widespread political corruption.
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In the 1990s Pakistan began to pursue plutonium production capabilities. With Chinese assistance, Pakistan built the 40 MWt (megawatt thermal) Khusab research reactor at Joharabad, and in April 1998, Pakistan announced that the reactor was operational. According to public statements made by US officials, this unsafeguarded heavy water reactor generates an estimated 8-10 kilotons of weapons grade plutonium per year, which is enough for one to two nuclear weapons. The reactor could ... produce tritium if it were loaded with lithium-6. According to J. Cirincione of Carnegie, Khusab's plutonium production capacity could allow Pakistan to develop lighter nuclear warheads that would be easier to deliver with a ballistic missile.
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Until Oct., 1999, when the constitution was suspended, Pakistan was governed by the constitution of 1973 as amended in 1985, which provides for a federal parliamentary form of government. Constitutional government was restored in 2002, although Pervez Musharraf, who seized power in 1999, remained president and unilaterally amended (2002) the constitution. Under the constitution, there is a bicameral parliament, comprising a 342-member national assembly with 272 members directly elected from single-seat constituencies and the rest nominated by the parties, and a 100-member senate chosen mainly either by provincial assemblies or, in tribal areas, by popular election. The president is the head of state, and the prime minister the chief executive. Each province has its own legislative assembly whose members are elected by direct popular vote, a provincial governor appointed by the president, and a chief minister elected by the legislative assembly. There is an independent judicial branch of government.
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In 1947, the state of Pakistan was created from partitioned sections of northwest and northeast colonial India.2 Upon independence the new government was faced with the complex task of constructing legislative, executive, and judicial bodies virtually from scratch. This task was complicated by the lack of well organized national political parties, limited financial resources, the violence of
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