[Marxism] After Mosque Battle, Musharraf's Troubles Persist

[Walter Lippmann]

Musharraf's contribution to the war on radical islam is analyzed 
quite well at the World Socialist Web Site. The New York Times 
notes Benazir Bhutto's endorsement of Musharraf's miltary action.
The NYT doesn't mention Bush and Washington's prompt endorsement 
of the attack on the Red Mosque. Washington's support for militant
Islamics in its war against the Soviet Union are the roots of the 
rise of such Ialamic militants today. So far as I've seen, only the 
left and Communist forces in Pakistan have protested against this.

While I have no sympathy for religious fanatics, whatever faith, 
still there's no solution to such problems with these methods.
The critics of radical Islam have also been silent about this.
If this had happened in Iran, I suspect they'd have spoken out 
in loud tones and in short order. On Pakistan, nothing so far.


Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California
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Mosque massacre: Washington's "war on terror" shakes Pakistan
By Bill Van Auken
11 July 2007
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/jul2007/paki-j11_prn.shtml
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July 12, 2007
News Analysis
After Mosque Battle, Musharraf's Troubles Persist
By SOMINI SENGUPTA

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/12/world/asia/12pakistan.html

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, July 11 - The battle for the Red Mosque ended
Wednesday after two full days of fighting between Pakistani special
forces and Islamist militants holed up in its basement bunkers,
leaving at least 60 dead, the military said, and the death toll was
almost certain to rise.

Even as security forces were still scouring the mosque compound for
land mines, weapons and bodies, it was apparent that the eight-day
siege represented a watermark for Pakistan, and a potentially
decisive one for its embattled president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

The issue now was whether the fight signaled a broader, sustained
confrontation with Islamist radicals or was a one-time imperative
prompted by the truculence of the militants inside the mosque.

"Those are the very questions that will have to be sorted out: Is
this going to be the first shot across the bow, or was this a one-off
he was compelled to do because the script went wrong?" said, Najam
Sethi, the editor of The Daily Times. "That is not clear at the
moment."

The mosque siege antagonized Islamist extremists, whose influence has
steadily spread to Pakistani cities, including Islamabad, the
capital, from the remote tribal regions where the Taliban and Al
Qaeda have made a home.

On Wednesday, in an Internet recording, Ayman al-Zawahri, Al Qaeda's
second in command, urged revenge against the Musharraf government.
"This crime can only be washed by repentance or blood," he said in
the recording, posted on Web sites used by Islamists. The
authenticity of the recording could not be immediately verified.

After 36 hours of fighting at the mosque, there was still no final
tally of the dead, no clarity about how many of those inside were
hostages rather than fighters and no information about how many of
the militants were from other parts of the country or abroad.

Reuters reported late Wednesday that the military had extracted 73
bodies from the compound. The military said at least 50 militants and
9 members of the security forces had been killed in the past two
days; another security officer was killed last week in a clash at the
mosque. The final toll, particularly the numbers of women and
children, could bear on the public reaction to the operation.

General Musharraf already finds his political and popular standing
severely eroded. He has faced months of protests over his suspension
of the Supreme Court's chief justice. Elections are expected this
fall, and it remains unclear whether General Musharraf will be
allowed to be re-elected president while remaining the commander in
chief of the army.

The general's supporters regarded the strike as a vital measure to
restore the writ of the state. "This was certainly a needed, even if
a tragic, way of state reasserting its authority," said Nasim Zehra,
an independent political analyst here.

General Musharraf's move has already won support from the Bush
administration, which the general counts as one of his crucial
international backers. Pakistan's post-9/11 alliance with Washington
has earned the country billions of dollars in military and economic
aid.

On Tuesday, Pakistan received two American F-16 fighter jets for its
air force. An American Embassy news release described the jets as "an
important manifestation of the growing strategic partnership between
the United States and Pakistan."

Hinting at how the mosque standoff could alter the political
calculus, Benazir Bhutto, the exiled leader of the country's largest
opposition party, also offered an unusual endorsement of the
government's action.

But while the assault may have appeased some secular Pakistanis who
have urged the general to rein in the extremists, it no doubt
inflamed the religious right. On Wednesday, criticism poured in from
religious parties and madrasa leaders. A consortium of 13,000
religious schools, called the Wifaq-ul-Madaris al-Arabia, announced a
nationwide strike for Friday.

That action was mild compared with what many still feared, that the
Red Mosque siege would become a rallying cry for Islamic extremists,
who have twice tried to kill General Musharraf since he took power in
1999.

"This has focused the opposition to the nation state by the militant
Islamists," said Fasih Bokhari, a retired navy admiral who has been a
staunch critic of the president. "The Musharraf government has firmly
placed itself against Islamization." He said he could not see what
benefits would accrue from the assault, only further antagonism from
the religious right.

Just how few good options had remained for General Musharraf before
the assault was abundantly clear. The government pledged more than
five years ago to clean up its most radical madrasas and crack down
on the extremist groups that they feed.

It has had limited success so far, not least because it has nurtured
or tolerated some of the same groups for years. The government has
long depended on them for political support at home, as well as for
leverage against its rivals India and Afghanistan.

Revealing the delicacy of the situation, government officials on
Wednesday alternated between reassuring the public that they were not
waging war against all madrasas and at the same time trying to ward
off further challenges to the state's authority.

"The government of Pakistan has nothing against madrasas," Prime
Minister Shaukat Aziz told reporters Wednesday afternoon. "But any
madrasa which violates the law or promotes militancy will clearly be
dealt with under the law."

Ijaz ul-Haq, the Pakistani religious affairs minister, broke down in
tears on a television talk show. "God willing, we will continue to
protect the madrasas the way we protect our homes."

His father, Gen. Muhammad Zia ul-Haq, a former president, is credited
with emboldening radical Islamist groups in this country. Mr. Haq,
for his part, attended a Catholic school.

The Red Mosque enjoyed decades of government backing but lately had
become a source of embarrassment for General Musharraf as its leaders
used their students to carry out Taliban-style antivice campaigns.
Mr. Haq told the privately owned Geo television network on Tuesday
night that it had become a sanctuary for militants from other parts
of the country.

"I with much regret have to say that this was a hub for all types of
terrorists," he said. "Anyone involved in any unlawful activity
anywhere used to get protection here."

He did not explain why the government, armed with this knowledge, had
not taken action until a week ago.

On Wednesday, Tariq Azim Khan, the minister of state for information,
acknowledged that the government had been hard pressed to act against
a religious institution, as any government would be. "You have to
think not twice, but maybe three times before doing anything," he
said.

Salman Masood contributed reporting.