The Blood of the Martyrs
Who could possibly envy the place General Pervez Musharraf finds himself in? Between the rock of the Lal Masjid and the hard place of maintaining authority within Pakistan and his dependency on the loyalty of his military, so many of whom appear to be more than a little sympathetic to the aspirations of bringing about a Islamist state in his country.The challenges of recent months mounted by the fundamentalist clerics of the Lal Masjid and their fervent followers, both men and women loyal to the aims of the Taliban, combined with the mounting street protests against his sacking of the country's high-court judge have given him plenty to think and worry about.
The irritating challenges launched by radicalized Islamist students against the regime and its lax moral standards as judged by Sharia law and the condemnation of hard-line jihadists with their troublesome attacks on music stores and places of entertainment targeted as brothels were bad enough.
The kidnapping of seven Chinese nationals, six of whom are women, poses a serious enough threat to his authority and his longevity as Pakistan's president, that he could no longer shrug his metaphorical shoulder and hope they'd fade away. That civil transgression, added to the students boldly attacking police near the mosque, made his response inevitable.
To stir the pot even further, security officials in the country are convinced that Afghan Taliban commanders are among the 1,500 individuals sequestered in the mosque and its allied madrases. Saudi money has gone a long way to assisting in their radicalization through its intent to spread Wahhabism throughout the Muslim world.
While it would appear that many of the women have fled the mosque, along with a large number of other dedicated-though-faint-of-heart Islamists, mosque officials take delight in warning Pakistan's authorities that they have no lack of willing suicidists ready to launch themselves for the holy cause of bringing Islamic law to the country.
"The blood of the martyrs will not go to waste. We are ready for suicide attacks", a mullah's announcement claimed from the mosque's loudspeaker. "Our holy war will continue until shariah is enforced throughout the country."If he does instruct the army to unequivocally bring order and invade the mosque and school buildings, roust the insurgents and with them the suspected members of al Qaeda, he then will lay awake nights worrying whether his trusted army will support him. He's a ruthless dictator in an incendiary part of the world we inhabit, but as the saying goes, he's "our" dictator.
If he's the last line of defence between Afghanistan and his own country before a successful onslaught that will continue to take the lives of too many men and women situated in Afghanistan under the auspices of NATO and the umbrella of the United Nations, we've got to hope he meets with success.
Labels: Political Realities, Religion, Troublespots
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, July 04, 2007
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