The year 2007 has seen Pakistan buffeted by numerous and serious political crises culminating in the December 27 assassination of former Prime Minster and leading opposition figure Benazir Bhutto, who had returned to Pakistan from self-imposed exile in October. Bhutto's killing in an apparent gun and bomb attack (the circumstances remain controversial) has been called a national tragedy for Pakistan and does immense damage to already troubled efforts to democratize the country. Bhutto was "chairperson for life" of what arguably is Pakistan's most popular party, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which won the most total votes in the 2002 national election. The assassination came just 12 days after Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf had lifted a 6-week-old emergency order. The PPP named her young son, Bilawal, and her husband, Asif Zardari, to succeed her as party leaders. Bhutto's long-time party deputy, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, is expected to be the put forward as the PPP's prime ministerial candidate. On November 3, 2007, Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf issued a Proclamation of Emergency suspending the country's Constitution. The proclamation justified the suspension as necessary due to the country's rapidly deteriorating security circumstances ("an unprecedented level of violent intensity posing a grave threat to the life and property of the citizens of Pakistan") and to the allegedly negative role being played by the country's judiciary, which was claimed to be "working at cross purposes with the executive and legislature in the fight against terrorism and extremism thereby weakening the Government and the nation's resolve and diluting the efficacy of its actions to control this menace." According to the proclamation, the situation required "emergent and extraordinary measures." A Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) was issued by Musharraf (in his role as army chief) on the same day pursuant to the emergency proclamation. The PCO requires, inter alia , that the country's judiciary take a new oath of office, and it bars the judiciary from making any orders against the PCO or from taking any action against the President, the Prime Minister, or anyone acting under their authority. It also suspends a number of "Fundamental Rights" listed in Chapter One of the Pakistani Constitution. These include freedom from unlawful arrest and detention, and freedoms of movement, assembly, association, and speech. Seven Supreme Court justices, including the Chief Justice, and scores of High Court judges refused to take a new oath of office under the PCO and were summarily dismissed. Top U.S. officials repeatedly have urged President Musharraf to make more energetic efforts to restore civilian government and rule of law in Islamabad by respecting the independence of the country's judiciary and by holding free and fair parliamentary elections in early 2008. These admonitions continued following Bhutto's demise. Despite seemingly undemocratic developments in Islamabad, the United States has since 2001 provided billions of dollars in foreign assistance to Pakistan. Developments in Pakistan in 2007 have led many Washington-based critics—both governmental and independent—to more forcefully question the Bush Administration's largely uncritical support for President Musharraf. News of the November emergency decree and PCO elicited immediate criticism from Washington: According to the State Department, Musharraf's move "was a setback": [W]e had hoped to see this transition unfold differently.... It is our fervent hope that [scheduled] elections will be free, fair, transparent, and credible. We are working closely with Pakistani officials and U.S., Pakistani and international civil society organizations to ensure that these elections are as transparent as possible. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she had "communicated very clearly to the Pakistanis that the holding of free and fair elections is an absolute necessity" and later said U.S. aid to Pakistan would come under review. The Pentagon announced a postponement of scheduled high-level bilateral defense consultations. In his first public comments on the issue, President George W. Bush said the United States expects elections in Pakistan as soon as possible and that Musharraf should resign his military post. President Bush later telephoned Musharraf for a "very frank discussion" on the strong U.S. belief that the Pakistani leader should resign from the military and hold elections. Islamabad characterized President Bush as showing understanding of the "difficult circumstances" being faced by Musharraf and of the Pakistani leader's commitment to "full democracy and civilian rule." Several bills condemning the emergency declaration were introduced in Congress ( S.Res. 372 , H.Res. 810 , and H.Res. 823 ), but none has moved out of committee to date. On November 17, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte met with President Musharraf in Islamabad, reportedly delivering a "strong message" on the need to heed U.S. advice or face a possible reduction in military assistance. Islamabad rejected U.S. calls to end the emergency and dismissed the Deputy Secretary's admonitions as "nothing new." The Under Secretary also met with Musharraf ally and National Security Advisor Tariq Aziz and Vice Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani, and spoke by phone with Benazir Bhutto. Musharraf's "second coup" appeared to many observers to be a desperate power grab by a badly discredited military ruler. While Musharraf insisted the emergency decree was meant to deal with the country's security crisis and spreading Islamist militancy, most analysts believe it was a preemptive assault on the country's judiciary in light of signs that the Supreme Court was set to invalidate Musharraf's October 6, 2007, reelection as president. One international human rights group issued a report making this argument and criticizing the U.S. and other Western governments for "propping up" Musharraf with military and financial assistance. There are fears that the move further destabilized Pakistan and emboldened Islamist militants, while further alienating Pakistani civil society. It also brought a surge in unwanted attention to the Pakistani military's failure to defeat the country's militant extremist elements, as well as to its major and hugely profitable role in the country's economy. The security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons and materials becomes an especially crucial issue during a period of political instability in Islamabad. Moreover, Pakistan's Western allies find themselves in the awkward position of supporting an increasingly unpopular Musharraf who has twice used force to obtain or maintain power. The Islamabad government's harsh crackdown on political opposition apparently spurred former Prime Minister and opposition leader Benazir Bhutto to end what had been ongoing negotiations toward a power-sharing arrangement with Musharraf. Musharraf, for his part, called Bhutto "too confrontational" and himself ruled out further power-sharing negotiations. The U.S. government had supported a Musharraf-Bhutto accommodation as being in the best interests of both Pakistan and the United States. Bhutto's catastrophic removal from Pakistan's political equation thus dealt a serious blow to U.S. policies aimed at bringing greater stability to that country. Pakistan in 2007 suffered from considerable political uncertainty as the tenuous governance structure put in place by President Musharraf came under strain. Among ordinary Pakistanis, criticism of the military—typically among the most respected institutions in the country—and its role in governance has become much more common, especially as the army has proven unable to ensure security and stability in both major cities and in the western provinces of Baluchistan and the North West Frontier. Many among the Pakistani public appear increasingly put off by a seemingly arbitrary electoral process that preserves the power of a corrupt elite that demonstrates little meaningful concern with the problems of ordinary citizens. Moreover, there has been an accompanying and widespread dismay among Pakistanis at the appearance of unabashed U.S. interference in their political system, interference that from their perspective serves only to perpetuate the corruption. A judicial crisis began with President Musharraf's summary March 2007 dismissal of the country's Chief Justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, on charges of nepotism and misconduct. Analysts widely believe the action was an attempt by Musharraf to remove a potential impediment to his continued roles as president and army chief, given Chaudhry's rulings that exhibited independence and went contrary to government expectations. The move triggered immediate outrage among Pakistani lawyers; ensuing street protests by opposition activists grew in scale. By providing a platform upon which anti-Musharraf sentiments could coalesce, the imbroglio morphed into a full-fledged political crisis. The deposed Chief Justice became an overnight political celebrity. In May, tens of thousands of supporters lined the streets as Chaudhry drove from Islamabad to Lahore to address the High Court there. Chaudhry later flew to Karachi but was blocked from leaving the city's airport, reportedly by activists of the regional, government-allied Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) party. Ensuing street battles between MQM cadres and opposition activists left at least 40 people dead on May 12, most of them PPP members. Reports had local police and security forces standing by without intervening while the MQM attacked anti-Musharraf protesters, leading many observers to charge the government with complicity in the bloody rioting. In July, in what was widely seen as a major political defeat for Musharraf, the Supreme Court unanimously cleared Chaudhry of any wrongdoing and reinstated him to office. When, in August, Musharraf reportedly came close to declaring a state of emergency, Secretary of State Rice placed a late-night telephone call to Islamabad, by some accounts in a successful effort to dissuade him.