Pakistan has the world's seventh largest military

With the Pakistani elections scheduled to be held on January 8, the two leaders of the main opposition parties Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, both former Pakistani prime ministers, were allowed to enter Pakistan after spending many years in exile.

Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president, has shed his uniform and promised free and fair elections, but his opponents say this is impossible.

When he unexpectedly declared a state of emergency, the chances of a fair election appeared even less likely.

Immediately before the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, People & Power's Sapna Bhatia spoke to both Sharif and Bhutto as they prepared to head back to Pakistan to fight the elections on home ground instead of from faraway lands.

Benazir Bhutto was an iconic figure for Pakistanis and Muslims world-wide

Faraway Politics is a revealing look into the hopes and fears of Pakistan's leading contenders as they embarked on one of the most pivotal elections in their country's history.

An engaging discussion on the political aftermath of Bhutto's assassination will follow, with presenter Samah El-Shahat speaking to Ameen Jan, the head of strategy at Jan Consulting, and Iftikhar Malik, a professor of international history at Bath Spa University.

Watch part one of this episode of People & Power on YouTube