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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=4997025 General Musharraf finally begins to lose RASHMEE Z AHMED TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2002 2:08:01 AM ] LONDON: After 26 weeks of willing cooperation with the United States and Britain in the war on terror, Pakistan appears finally to have lost its desire to please its Western cheerleaders and there are increasing calls for General Musharraf�s head. In a calculated rebuff, Islamabad has refused permission to nearly 2,000 British troops and their 105 mm light guns to use Karachi as a staging post for their journey to Afghanistan. The British troops are being deployed in Afghanistan at the specific request of the US to fight the "remnants" of al-Qaeda and the Taliban. They are to be under overall American command. British defence officials say Pakistan�s refusal to allow deployment from its soil has forced them to seek another route to Afghanistan for deployment in days, not weeks because of the urgency of their mission. Pakistan�s sudden and unexpected prickliness has surprised foreign policy analysts and diplomats here, who say it sends an increasingly grave message about the stability of Musharraf�s regime and the strength of his administration�s commitment to fight extremist hardliners. South Asia watchers pointed out that on Tuesday, the American defence secretary was reportedly forced to reassure Pakistan that US-led troops would not cross the Afghan-Pakistan border in search of fleeing al-Qaeda-Taliban fighters. They said that Musharraf�s refusal to permit the British to land is part of the same strategy to appear less of a Western stooge, but it is a high-stakes gamble and he could lose credibility on all sides. Diplomats believe that Musharraf�s struggle to maintain his authority illustrates the dangerously volatile situation in Pakistan, just six months after it threw in its lot with the West and agreed to fight terrorism in all its forms. In a sign that Musharraf may join Mugabe on the list of "international pariahs", the word "dictator" and the call for "free elections" is being pointedly renewed after months of unremitting praise for Musharraf�s alleged courage and conviction in joining Bush and Blair�s war on terror. The growing international concern over what is being described as Pakistan�s dangerously polarised polity is echoed by sections of the British media. In words that might convince Indian policy-makers that they are right to insist Pakistan use "actions, not words" to crack down on terrorism, The Guardian newspaper has upbraided the "self-styled Pakistani president" for his alleged "double-dealing". In a grave editorial headlined "Precarious in Pakistan, Musharraf lacks a firm footing", the paper focusses on Pakistan�s "noxious fundamentalism, rooted in a perverted Deobandism, inflamed by Wahabi zealotry and battle-hardened in Kashmir". It notes that Musharraf has "quietly freed over half of (the 2,000 militants) arrested" and urged him to hold "free and fair national elections" rather than "some bogus presidential referendum". ===== Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace. Weekly peace walks around Lake Merritt in Oakland. Starts & ends at the colonnade between Grand & Lakeshore Avenues, 3 P.M., every Sunday. Info: (510)763-8712, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or http://www.webwm.com/LMNOP __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Movies - coverage of the 74th Academy Awards� http://movies.yahoo.com/ --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
