As reported by Bloomberg, despite the fact that Pakistan’s recent election heightened the risks for stock investors as opposition parties try to create a new government and force President Pervez Musharraf to step down, Templeton Asset Management Ltd.’s Mark Mobius said he is maintaining his holdings of Pakistani banks, consumer and energy companies and also doesn’t plan to buy more.

“…There are going to be a lot of disputes surrounding the situation there,” said Mobius, who oversees $40 billion in emerging-market assets, including about $400 million in Pakistan, for Templeton in Singapore. “There’s a great deal of risk in Pakistan. People will be very cautious.”

…International investors scaled back stock purchases in the second half of 2007 to $103.2 million from $1.31 billion a year earlier, according to the State Bank of Pakistan. The slowdown came as Musharraf suspended the constitution and fired top judges to maintain his eight-year military rule, and riots broke out after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Her Pakistan Peoples Party, along with the Pakistan Muslim League of Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, won the most seats in parliament.…The nation’s benchmark index has rallied almost 12-fold since the end of 2001, the fifth-steepest gain among 90 world indexes tracked by Bloomberg. The KSE 100 rose 40 percent last year and has advanced 7.1 percent in 2008. Peshawar-based EFU General Insurance Ltd. and Pakistan Services Ltd., the Karachi- based hotel operator, have surged 25 percent since the election, leading gains in the KSE 100….”