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Widespread Outage Spurs Coup Rumors In Pakistan
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But Musharraf has lost considerable domestic support for a variety of reasons, including his refusal to relinquish his military uniform while in office, his retreat on promises to expand women's and religious rights, and his use of aggressive military tactics to solve problems in volatile border regions.
While in the United States this week, Musharraf has made several statements that could reflect poorly on Pakistan's military leadership and autonomy. He said a senior U.S. official had threatened to bomb Pakistan "back to the Stone Age" if it did not cooperate fully with the United States against al-Qaeda and Afghanistan's Taliban government after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Musharraf's comment suggested that he had yielded to intense U.S. pressure in deciding to turn against the Taliban and to help in the hunt for al-Qaeda, decisions that many Pakistani Islamic leaders have long criticized.
"Musharraf is blindly toeing the American line, thereby causing irreparable damage to Pakistan and its image in the world," said Khurshid Ahmad, a scholar and senator from the religious Jamaat-e-Islami party. "For his efforts, he gets a pat on the back while they are twisting his arm."
A second sensitive issue raised during Musharraf's visit to Washington concerned the activities of Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters along the border with Afghanistan. Earlier this month, Musharraf announced that he had made a peace pact with Taliban groups inside Pakistan after thousands of Pakistani troops failed to quell them.
President Bush praised Musharraf's efforts this week but insisted he would send U.S. forces into Pakistan to track down al-Qaeda leaders if necessary. This is a sore point for the Pakistani military, and Musharraf has always insisted he would not allow it.
On Sunday night, after power had been restored in most areas, news stations broadcast footage of cities and towns lighted by candles, and messages crawling across TV screens repeated that Musharraf was in good health and that the government situation was normal.
Hamid, the chairman of the power administration, apologized for the inconvenience and the fact that the lengthy power outage had contributed to "baseless stories." News reports said some civilians had protested outside power offices and attacked one, but there were no other reports of violence.
