A Militant Pakistan Remains Unlikely

Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, right, shakes hands with a flood victim in Turbat, Pakistan, Friday, July 6, 2007. Gunners fired shots after an aircraft carrying Musharraf took off from a military base Friday, officials and witnesses said, in an apparent assassination attempt that has added to the sense of crisis enveloping Pakistan. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt) (Arshad Butt - AP)

Musharraf's allies insist that the president, who has refused to give up his role as army chief because the country needed strong leadership, is an unrivaled fighter against militant groups operating in several regions of Pakistan.

"He is the man behind the gun. The terrorists and extremists, al-Qaida and Taliban, all consider that he is giving him a very tough time and that is why they are doing their best to attempt on his life," Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid said.

Many critics, however, accuse Musharraf of manipulating flare-ups like the ongoing showdown in the capital, where thousands of security forces are trying to prise an unknown number of militants from the mosque, to polish his image as a bulwark against extremism.

Newspapers are praising Musharraf for finally cracking down on the Red Mosque, where radicals had tried to impose Taliban-style rule on the capital. His critics say he could have acted earlier.

Where supporters and detractors agree is that, since seizing power in a 1999 coup, the military president has accrued such overarching authority that his removal could lead to chaos.

"Musharraf happens to be at the center of the system he has created," The Nation, a Lahore-based newspaper, said in an editorial on Sunday that urged Musharraf to ensure that the upcoming elections are free and fair to avoid political mayhem. "If something happens to the cornerstone, the entire structure is bound to collapse like a house of cards."

President Bush made clear last month that Musharraf's cooperation against terrorism was more important to the U.S. than his willingness to restore democracy.

Yet there are also signs of growing impatience among U.S. officials and lawmakers with Musharraf's limited success in uprooting Taliban and al-Qaida militants from mountains along Pakistan's western border, which serve as a launch pad for attacks on NATO troops in neighboring Afghanistan.

A widely expected solution _ and one sure to enrage Islamic hard-liners _ would see Musharraf, the man who turned on the Taliban, share power with Bhutto, a woman who has vowed to outdo him in anti-terrorist zeal.