INTERNAL POLITICS
The Globe and Mail, Wednesday, July 11, 2007
SONYA FATAH
By decisively ending the standoff at the Red Mosque, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has answered international critics who questioned his commitment to fighting extremism, but risks drawing the wrath of other radicals who hold considerable power in his embattled country.
His biggest ally in the West, the United States, was quick to offer support yesterday. “The government of Pakistan has proceeded in a responsible way,” Pentagon spokesman Tom Casey said. “All governments have a responsibility to preserve order.”
General Musharraf suffered early embarrassment as the moral squads of the mosque went from attacking CD shops earlier this year to abducting brothel owners and finally holding Chinese massage attendants in increasingly bold actions that met with scant consequences.
But by first negotiating with the Islamist leaders and then acting decisively when talks proved fruitless, he was able to back up his assertions that, when needed, he can move fairly but decisively against extremists.
“The international reaction is very good,” said Najam Sethi, editor of The Friday Times and The Daily Times, two English-language publications in Pakistan. “Gen. Musharraf will be seen as finally putting an end
to this.”
Within Pakistan, however, the Red Mosque situation has been the source of much criticism that is unlikely to wane. Many feel that the mosque, once a favourite haunt of the country’s intelligence officers, was allowed to develop into a militant outfit because it was useful to the military’s aims in places such as Kashmir and Afghanistan.
“This was scripted to a point, and then the actors got autonomous,” Mr. Sethi said. “It got out of the government’s hands and then they didn’t know how to deal with it. In the end, the only way to deal with it was to end it this way.”
Some have even accused Gen. Musharraf of provoking the standoff to draw attention away from the pro-democracy campaign he sparked when he fired the chief justice of the Supreme Court, and to demonstrate that his strong leadership is needed in the face of calls for him to relinquish power along with coming elections.
There’s also fear that radical madrassas in other parts of the country will respond violently to the siege of the Red Mosque, particularly in the northwest frontier region, which borders the tribal areas and Afghanistan. During the standoff, militants there reacted by attacking law-enforcement officers, killing at least 19 people. Attempts yesterday to keep the news media at a distance from the scene was probably part of an effort to minimize the spread of reaction.
But for the most part, few in Pakistan opposed the final decision to attack the mosque. Gen. Musharraf is seen to have made the right conciliatory moves before being forced to react.
He will, however, be asked some hard questions about why the Red Mosque affair dragged on for six months. Greater scrutiny is also required into the role of Pakistan’s military and intelligence agencies in exacerbating the problem of extremism by tolerating elements that further government goals, although political will for that sort of introspection is unlikely.
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