Musharraf’s Move

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The only good thing about the declaration of emergency rule in Pakistan this weekend is that President Musharraf gets several months to act decisively against the armed uprising taking place in parts of the country by Islamists. The Bush administration and Congress, meantime, will have to choose between the crackdown on the terrorists they have been demanding of Pakistan and the democratization they have also been encouraging. It’s a choice Washington had sought to avoid.

The emergency laws prohibit the press from covering suicide bombings or putting the army or government in a negative light. The Supreme Court, which was pressing the government over missing persons associated with Al Qaeda and Taliban, is locked down. If Mr. Musharraf deploys the Pakistani army with success against the Islamists he may get by with a spell of the emergency rule, though his pact with the devil of dictatorship will no doubt cause him its own problems down the road.

This happened after the pact that had obtained between the army and liberal elements of the middle class unraveled. General Musharraf scuttled his power-sharing agreement with Benazir Bhutto. Washington was hoping Mrs. Bhutto and her Peoples Party would be able to contest parliamentary elections in January with Mrs. Bhutto. The leader of the other key party, Nawaz Sharif, tried to return from his forced exile over in September but was barred from leaving the airport and sent back to Saudi Arabia. It’s a good place for him.

The shut-down of the Supreme Court came as it was preparing to rule on petitions that would void General Musharraf’s recent election to a third term as president. The dangers of a likely Court decision against him were magnified by the rising tide of terrorism and armed rebellion against government forces, with fighting spreading from the Waziristan areas in the southern part of the frontier provinces bordering Afghanistan to Swat, which is considered a more settled part of the country.

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One of the casualties of all this may prove to be Mrs. Bhutto’s reputation as a staunch democrat. This is a danger among those who opposed what they saw as her kowtowing to Mr. Musharraf, as well as her excessively pro-American views. She tried over the weekend to distance herself from Mr. Musharraf but said she was still prepared to talk with him. Secretary Rice’s regret over the suspension of the constitution will be shared by many. But a day after she said America may be forced by statute to cut back some aid to Pakistan the Pentagon said there are no anticipated changes in military aid and cooperation. Nor is America the only country concerned over the enemy advance. As a veteran Indian diplomat, M. K. Bhadrakumar, summed in Sunday’s Rediff India Abroad: “If a neighbor’s house catches fire, it is bound to spread. An entire arc of extreme volatility is developing from Iraq through Iran to Afghanistan, and now to Pakistan. It is right on our doorstep.”


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