Translated material
Alienation of moderate forces
Potential allies of President Musharraf arrested in Pakistan
A mass rally of supporters of the leading opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP) is scheduled for today in the city of Rawalpindi, in northern Pakistan near the capital Islamabad. And yesterday its leader Benazir Bhutto announced that the protest would not only go ahead, but would develop into a “long march”, despite the risk of terrorist attacks and the arrest of more than 800 PPP activists on Thursday night.The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Pakistan, noting that members of this party had not previously been arrested, reported the detention of only four Bhutto supporters who violated the law on a state of emergency, which President Pervez Musharraf introduced in the country on November 3. The press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs referred to intelligence information about suicide bombers who had “already made their way into Rawalpindi” and recalled the death on October 18 as a result of a terrorist attack in Karachi of 145 people who welcomed Benazir Bhutto, who returned to the country after eight years of exile.
According to ex-Prime Minister Bhutto, “the authoritarian methods of the president’s rule fuel extremism and undermine the nation.” The politician agrees to continue negotiations with Musharraf on the creation of a ruling coalition of moderate forces after the parliamentary elections. But for this, the authorities must decide on the date for their holding (and not talk about either “January as planned” or “postponement for a year or two or three months”) and restore the validity of the constitution. Other conditions include Musharraf's resignation as commander of the armed forces and the release of about 4,000 opposition figures detained in recent days. Under these slogans, Bhutto wants to bring his supporters to the streets of Rawalpindi, actually a suburb of Islamabad.
The persecution of PPP activists by the authorities could not but upset the Americans, who consider Pakistan to be the main ally in the anti-terrorist coalition created to fight al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Moreover, the arrests were made a couple of hours after President George W. Bush himself called his Pakistani counterpart for the first time since the declaration of a state of emergency and spent 20 minutes convincing him “as soon as possible” to hold elections and change the uniform of a special forces general to a civilian suit. “I called him my most important ally. I said that we really believe in elections and that you cannot be president and head of the armed forces at the same time. We had a frank conversation,” George Bush told reporters.
Musharraf explained that he declared a state of emergency due to the actions of armed Islamists and representatives of the judiciary who “took too much upon themselves.” He assured Bush of his “commitment to full democracy and civilian rule,” but “decisive steps were required to prevent political instability, ensure economic growth and continue the war against extremism and terrorism,” the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said. It remains unknown what Bush responded, because the United States did a lot to start a dialogue between Musharraf and Bhutto, as a result of which charges of corruption were dropped against her and she was allowed to return to her homeland.
While Bush was calling Musharraf, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte told Congress: "The longer the situation in Pakistan remains as it is, the more difficult it will be." “But no country has done more to damage the Taliban and al-Qaeda,” concluded the official who previously led the US intelligence community.
“Nuclear-armed Pakistan will undoubtedly remain the US's main partner in the region. And there is no fear that Islamists in this country will come to power legally and gain access to these weapons. The radical “Council of United Action”, consisting of six Islamist parties, will, of course, increase its presence in parliament following the results of future parliamentary elections, but it will not be able to surpass the PPP and the currently ruling pro-presidential party “Pakistan Muslim League,” the main one told Vremya Novostey. Researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Moskalenko.
According to our interlocutor, this year Musharraf “has been haunted by a series of dramatic events, failures and mistakes,” including “the war around the Red Mosque in Islamabad, the double removal from power of the head of the Supreme Court Iftikhar Choudhry and the ill-conceived expulsion of an ex-officer who had been in his homeland for only a few hours -Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif”: “All this may be a consequence of the actions of the “hawks” from the president’s entourage, defending an unconstructive course towards the opposition.”