Early last year the Pakistan Business Council, a lobby group of local conglomerates and multinationals, drew up a "national economic agenda", setting out some desperately needed reforms. It took out newspaper advertisements to press its case and made presentations to the four biggest parties in parliament. Rather to everyone's surprise it achieved a consensus, which was to be announced on a television chat show on May 2nd. But that morning it was revealed that American commandos had killed Osama bin Laden in a town not far from Pakistan's capital, Islamabad. Television had other priorities, and the moment passed.
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