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India-Pakistan | |||
Assassination ’windfall’ for Musharraf | |||
2003-12-19 | |||
From Asia Times, so keep salt at the handy, althbough personally, I believe this isn’t far off the mark. Something went horribly wrong when, moments after the general’s motorcade passed over a bridge, a powerful bomb exploded - initially estimated to contain 550 pounds of explosives - and badly damaged the structure of the bridge, but did not harm anyone. Immediately after the blast, the government’s Press Information Department sprang into action, running from one television channel to the other and from one newspaper office to the other trying to convince the staff that the "assassination attempt" was even bigger news than the arrest of Saddam Hussein, so the story should not be downplayed.
Mahmud the Weasel strikes again At the same time, Musharraf was given evidence of the ISI’s activities in the Kashmir region, as a result of which he was forced to close down forward sections of the army in Pakistan-administered Kashmir that had been lending support to militants for cross-border raids into Indian Kashmir. And a few weeks ago, Musharraf was given another warning - with complete details provided - of ISI-Taliban (or pro-resistance) links, and asked to order another operation in the tribal areas. This pressure from the US is compounded by opposition from the hardline Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), an alliance of six religious parties that won unprecedented representation in parliament in elections last year. In its latest action, the MMA launched "Remove Musharraf" protest marches on Thursday against Musharraf’s U-turn on Kashmir, the army’s intervention in the tribal areas, and his wearing the two caps of president and chief of army staff. Other developments are also of concern to Musharraf: About a week before his death earlier this month, MMA president Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani attended a luncheon meeting at the US vice-consul’s residence in Karachi, at which some other diplomats from Islamabad were also present. Noorani apparently assured that the MMA did not have any international agenda, and that its campaign in the country was in the cause of democracy. US diplomats in turn stated that the US wanted to see more democracy in Pakistan.Given these developments, the Asia Times Online source argues that it was fair time to pass on the message to Washington that extremists are rampant once again in the country because of interfering US policies. Musharraf "narrowly escaped" this attempt, but perhaps he will not be so lucky the next | |||
Posted by:Paul Moloney |
#4 Pakistan is the land of a million conspiracy theories. IMHO, it would be wise to keep Occam's razor handy when reading articles about Pakistan. I think the bomb was for real. Al-Qaeda has called openly for Musharraf's death (per the Al-Zawahiri tape.) Ditto for Pakistani jihadi groups. As for the ISI and the Taliban, I don't think the ISI controlled the Taliban, as the conspiracy-theorist view implies. The ISI tried (but failed badly) to control them. They failed because they wasn't really enough of an overlap between their interests and world-views. 1. The ISI's officers come from Pakistan's mostly-liberal professional classes. 2. The ISI is not a career service. Officers are transferred in from military units, serve 3 years, then go back to military, never to return. This "term limit" rule tends to limit abuses of power. The ISI's known abuses of power mostly occurred during or shortly after the period (during the anti-Soviet guerilla war) when the "term limit" rule was suspended. 3. I believe the ISI was trying to use the Taliban to control Afghanistan, and this policy was a disastrous and embarrassing failure. The units that were involved were largely dismantled. |
Posted by: Anonymous 2003-12-19 4:49:54 PM |
#3 "a German, Italian, French, British and US intelligence "cartel" that has been established to protect the strategic interests of the respective countries in Afghanistan as their troops are heavily threatened by Taliban attacks. Diplomats of these countries apparently visited places like Quetta on the border area and spoke to people there. The move is seen in Islamabad as nothing short of espionage" Intell guys with thin diplo cover go somewhere and speak to people - this is seen as "nothing short of espionage" Ethel, my pills! |
Posted by: liberalhawk 2003-12-19 1:40:08 PM |
#2 US intelligence officials were initially given a free hand in Pakistan to track down al-Qaeda members. But now they are directly involved with domestic politicians The ISI and the Taliban are hand in glove. Anything we do in Pakland will anger one faction or another. Yes, we're "directly involved with domestic politicians", because they are the links between the Pak government and al Qaeda and the Taliban. Musharraf is caught between a rock and a hard place - he absolutely has to work with the United States, or his country will become the next Iraq. At the same time, working with the United States places him at odds with a significant portion of his military, the ISI, and a major part of the Islamic clerical heierarchy. The old boy definitely "lives in interesting times". The odds aren't good he'll survive the next ten years. |
Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-12-19 1:07:27 PM |
#1 Bah. It's either ignore these posts, or keep "Time to thin the crop, Perv" on the clipboard at all times. |
Posted by: Glenn (not Reynolds) 2003-12-19 9:43:21 AM |