Image credit
Negroponte might have urged Musharraf strongly to roll back the emergency but the US can do little beyond that. The wily Pakistani general, in a masterstroke, has converted all his cards into aces.
Image credit
He is again playing on US fears that the Islamists are gaining ground in Pakistan and he, Musharraf, is the last bastion against them. “Without me the crazy mullahs will overrun the country”, is the message he seems to have conveyed effectively to an increasingly critical America.
Image credit
He has solid facts to back his contention. The Taliban is increasingly gaining control of the Pakistani tribal areas. Soldiers have been beheaded and the Pakistani army is finding itself helpless in dealing with it. To top it all Sunni-Shia clashes in Parachinar has hardly helped matters. The indications are that Pakistan is heading for chaos. It is a fact that the army is the only force capable of countering this trend. Musharraf is using this truth to brush away appeals to restore democracy and lift emergency.
In the present scenario Musharraf has got away by getting all lawsuits against him annulled by a bunch of rubberstamp judges, by silencing freedom of press and locking up all the opposition political leaders. He has said brazenly that the emergency is for ensuring fee and proper elections!
Musharraf is playing his Machiavellian games and the US is finding itself helplessly going along with whatever he does. The unrest in the border areas and the rise of Al Qaeda is the result of Musharraf unstated dual policy of propping up these extremists using the ISI and at the same time milking America for money to fight the same elements! Latest reports from the CNN say the US is going to provide training[CNN] and arms to Pakistan’s Frontier Corps. The milking of the somewhat simple-minded US administration by a master con artist continues!
