i'm on vacation in india, just watching coverage on ndtv. asma jehangir just broke down and said "damn the army" -- mariana babar, editor of the news was just pointing out that the attack was near where her father, zulfikar bhutto was hanged, and where liaquat ali khan was assassinated.

if this swings things towards sharif, well.. that's awful. we live in interesting times, i suppose.

The boldface is mine.

Other posters noted (as is mentioned in the WaPo article) that there was also an attack on a Sharif rally.

The same commenter later said this:

one particular point babar just made was that -- the ppp party workers, a lot of them are in rawalpindi, and are very very die-hard, and that musharaff may not be able to handle their anger after her death. this seems to have shaken and shocked even non-supportive pakistanis.

Needless to say, this shakes up the Pakistani political scene before the elections, which were supposed to be held January 8. Angry riots and a reimposition of martial law are probably a foregone conclusion. And for the United States, it probably means that U.S. policymakers now see President Pervez Musharraf as their only option.