” I will order action if the media promises it will not show dead bodies “
Mosque raid boosts Musharraf image By Aamer Ahmed Khan, BBC Service, 
General Pervez Musharraf
Barely two weeks ago, Pakistan’s military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, was battling for his political survival. The war drums being beaten by the opposition at home were reaching a crescendo.
Major embarrassment - Jamia Hafsa – a seminary affiliated with one of the city’s oldest mosques, known as the Red Mosque – had been running circles around the Islamabad administration since the beginning of this year. Demanding strict enforcement of Sharia (Islamic law), Red Mosque clerics had let loose moral squads on the capital to “prevent vices and promote virtue” – a concept first institutionalized by the Taleban in Afghanistan. These moral squads, consisting of armed male and female students, were going around the city threatening music shop owners, and kidnapping women over allegations of operating brothels.
Concern in the West – The president repeatedly said if the government tried to use force, the clerics would unleash suicide bombers who could kill dozens.
“The same people including the media who are currently demanding that the government take action will then turn around and start accusing the government of killing its own people,” he said at one of his public appearances earlier this year. “I will order action if the media promises it will not show dead bodies,” Gen Musharraf said on another occasion.
“The turning point clearly was the abduction of the Chinese massage parlour girls,” says a senior diplomat in Islamabad.
“We know that the Chinese sent a very strong message that they could take losses in Balochistan or the tribal belt but were not prepared to see their citizens abducted and tortured bang in the heart of the capital.”
Musharraf is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t pursue a secular system. The US encourages Secular and his opponents want a strict Islamic state.
Increased attacks in Afghanistan by Pakistan-based Taleban in the first six months of the year had also started to cause concern in Western capitals.
The influential British and American media had started to revisit skeletons that President Musharraf had worked so hard to bury.
Musharraf has used Radical Islamic Militias to fight proxy wars with India & Kashmir.
As the nation inches closer to elections later in the year and a decision from General Musharraf on his dual role as president and army chief, he will be focusing all his energies on getting just one message across: He is still the West’s best bet against radical Islam who can move decisively as and when needed.
America needs Musharraf and seems willing to forgive his sins as long as he supports the War Against Terror. How long will he survive when he has so many trying to eliminate him … how long will our War Against Terror survive if the opposition succeeds?
Why isn’t this front page news? Where do our candidates stand?
