Word: pakistani
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Since Sept. 11, the Bush Administration has hailed Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf as a stalwart ally in the war on terrorism, providing as much as $10 billion in aid to his government. The U.S. believes Musharraf's autocratic rule is preferable to what might replace it: a nuclear-armed, fundamentalist regime sympathetic to Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. But there are growing doubts about how long Musharraf can hold on to power. Al-Qaeda's leadership has regrouped in Pakistan's tribal areas, while the country's middle class has taken to the streets to protest Musharraf's decision...
Possibly. Radical clerics have declared jihad on the government in retaliation for the mosque siege. Suicide attacks are gathering pace in the North-West Frontier Province, the gateway to Afghanistan. A July 18 bombing there killed 17 Pakistani soldiers. And even religious groups once aligned with the government are turning against Musharraf. Machine-gun fire directed at the President's plane on July 6 marked the first assassination attempt on Musharraf's life in several years...
...first time, perhaps, he has nothing left to lose. Though he has alienated religious groups with his raid on the Red Mosque, most Pakistani moderates support his stand against extremism. Elements within the army or intelligence services that remain sympathetic to the extremists may finally see them as the threat that they are. The risk is that Musharraf's anti-radical stance may widen divisions in the army and intelligence forces, costing the President their support when he needs it most...
Certainly Washington seems to have put all its eggs in one basket. Musharraf's unpopularity fuels many of the problems in the country, and Pakistani opposition groups argue that the U.S. would do better promoting democracy over a single military dictator. Elections are due in a few months. Musharraf wants the current national and provincial assemblies to extend his term before that vote takes place. If they refuse, it's possible he will delay a vote or even use the increasing violence as an excuse to declare martial law--which would fuel more chaos...
...Masjid (Red Mosque), swore his readiness to die. "My martyrdom is certain," he told the local press. Within hours, Ghazi's bullet-riddled body was carted out of the basement of the sprawling mosque and madrasah, or seminary, complex where he and scores of heavily armed militants had battled Pakistani security forces for eight days. Ghazi is dead, but he may well come to haunt the President, General Pervez Musharraf, and the country...