When Pakistan's President, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, dismissed the government of Benazir Bhutto on charges of corruption and incompetence two weeks ago, he promised new elections on Oct. 24. Most Pakistanis received that assurance with skepticism: delaying elections in the wake of a coup or sudden change in government has become an established national tradition. Those reservations hardened last week when caretaker Prime Minister Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, a Bhutto enemy, pushed forward a process of "accountability," which principally involves investigating crimes committed by the old regime. "The government had become stinkingly corrupt," Jatoi told TIME last week.
As Jatoi's government hunts for...