"Turabi is political to the core," said a Western ambassador.

"They are taking territory," said one Western ambassador in Pakistan.

"Things are going badly and it's difficult to see how or where they're going to get better," one Western ambassador said.

"There's no single convincing explanation what triggered it," said a Western ambassador.

A Western ambassador said: "The party has its hands on everything.

As a result, the decline in real wages was put at 20 percent for the year by a Western ambassador.

"He has surrounded himself with authoritarian ciphers," a Western ambassador said.

"I don't think anyone's intelligence here is terrific," a Western ambassador said.

But however rough the road, the Western ambassador said, the economic reforms are irreversible.

"I think failure is really not in the cards," a Western ambassador said of the city's redevelopment plan.