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 News from Around the Americas | March 2006 
Pakistan Is Tense as Bush Arrives on 24-Hour Visit
 Carlotta Gall & Elisabeth Bumiller - NYTimes
| | Pakistani protesters stand on the poster of U.S. President George Bush during a rally to condemn Bush's visit to Pakistan, Saturday, Mar 4, 2006 in Lahore, Pakistan. Police detained former cricket star Imran Khan at his Islamabad home and arrested dozens of supporters from his opposition party to block a rally against U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to Pakistan, police and witnesses said. (AP Photo) |
Islamabad - President Bush arrived here on Friday for a 24-hour visit to a capital locked down under extraordinary security, as a broad coalition of political parties closed shops and halted transportation across the country and planned more demonstrations for the weekend.
The visit by Mr. Bush, the first by an American president in six years, threatened to further roil a nation still seething over the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that were first published in a Danish newspaper.
Thousands of people have turned out for weeks in rolling protests that were increasingly directed at Mr. Bush and the pro-American policies of Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
Mr. Bush nevertheless flew directly to Islamabad aboard Air Force One, a symbolic gesture that he considered the country safe enough for a presidential welcome on an open tarmac, and an overnight stay.
The capital was virtually sealed for his arrival. Concrete barriers and police squads blocked off the main avenues running to Parliament, the presidential palace and the diplomatic enclave where the president stayed, leaving the streets from the airport dark and deserted.
Before his arrival, President Bush heralded General Musharraf as a courageous man who has stood firm through several assassination attempts as a frontline ally in the fight against terrorism.
Mr. Bush also commended the general's vision for Pakistan as a moderate Islamic state.
But General Musharraf faces more political pressure than at any time since he seized power in a coup in 1999, as the turmoil over the cartoons has given Islamic parties an opportunity to develop an alliance with the larger, secular opposition.
"Islamabad is not ready to accept a visit from Bush," Syed Munawar Hasan, secretary general of the largest Islamic political party, Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, warned during the past week of rallies, arrests and growing political antagonism. "The people hate Bush - the demonstrations will show that - there is no doubt about that."
The problem of terrorism inside Pakistan and the kinds of pressures General Musharraf faces were evident on Thursday when a suicide bomber killed an American diplomat and two others outside the American Consulate in Karachi.
Six years ago, President Clinton arrived in Islamabad by unmarked military jet accompanied by a decoy plane with the familiar blue and white of Air Force One and "United States of America" on its side.
Despite Mr. Bush's more public landing, Air Force One approached Islamabad with its running lights off and interior shades drawn, a precaution that would make it harder for anyone trying to aim a missile at the plane.
After his airport arrival was covered by local television crews, Mr. Bush slipped away from public view, and reporters traveling with him could not tell whether he even rode with the presidential motorcade, or in an unmarked Black Hawk helicopter, to the heavily fortified residence of the American ambassador, Ryan C. Crocker.
At their meetings on Saturday, Mr. Bush is expected to support General Musharraf's efforts to advance a solution with India over the disputed territory of Kashmir, and to sign trade and economic agreements.
But there will be no consideration of nuclear cooperation of the kind Mr. Bush announced with India, because Pakistan's role in nuclear proliferation, led by the scientist A. Q. Khan, remains a black mark.
Security will remain tight through Mr. Bush's stay. General Musharraf has reacted sternly to the political commotion since the Danish cartoons, banning rallies in Islamabad and in Lahore, where the worst violence occurred on Feb. 14, when five people were killed.
The government has since detained some political leaders. Demonstrations are being restricted by large deployments of armed police officers and rangers.
These steps, however, have not quelled the momentum of the opposition, which has declared Saturday a day of protest and urged supporters to wear black armbands and hang black flags in a statement against Mr. Bush's visit.
After six years of virtually unchallenged power, General Musharraf appears to be entering a rockier period as the opposition gathers itself.
The demonstrations and the sporadic violence have revealed the political tensions that are building in Pakistan a year ahead of planned elections, and may point to a rough ride ahead for General Musharraf and his cooperation with the United States.
"We will try to make him resign," said Qazi Hussein Ahmad, the leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, in an interview at his home, where he was placed after the demonstrations in Lahore. "This is the moment of the workers and the people."
He denied that his followers were responsible for the recent violence.
The opposition has been implacable in its criticism of General Musharraf's seizure of power in 1999 and of his holding of the two posts of army chief and president, which he shows no sign of giving up, despite clear urging from the Commonwealth, among others.
Opposition politicians also accuse the United States of treating him as an important ally while ignoring the antidemocratic nature of his military coup.
"The people of Pakistan are rather disappointed," said Mian Raza Rabbani, a senator and member of the largest political organization, the liberal-leaning Pakistan People's Party. "They have seen the United States pay a great deal of lip service supporting democracy in Muslim countries, but when we look at what is happening in Pakistan, President Bush says he shares the president's views and his democratic vision for Pakistan. For a great many, that is flawed."
Today General Musharraf faces many pressures, some of his own making. The Pakistani military and police forces are battling armed insurrections in two of the four provinces, the North West Frontier Province and Baluchistan, where tension have built over the sharing of natural gas.
In the North West Frontier Province, which borders Afghanistan, the army is fighting a long campaign against Islamic extremists, including Taliban remnants. Many say Osama bin Laden may be hiding there.
The religious parties accuse the general of fighting a war against his own people in the tribal areas at the behest of America. The army has lost 400 soldiers there in the last two years, General Musharraf said in a recent television interview.
"Pakistan has never been so unstable, and the federation has never been under greater political strain," Senator Rabbani said.
It is, above all, General Musharraf's failure to build a political base that is weakening him, analysts say. The Pakistan Muslim League, which he cobbled together to form a government, lacks unity and broad appeal.
For nearly six years, it was hardly necessary. When he seized power, President Musharraf was widely welcomed by Pakistanis, such was the disgust and weariness with the corrupt and ineffective civilian governments. He is still the most popular politician in the country, according to one recent privately conducted poll.
He is seen as not corrupt - a huge plus in a country where so many politicians are tainted with graft - and he has brought a measure of economic prosperity. "He's doing well. I think he's fine," said Muddasir Is Haq, 27, who owns a plumbing shop in Lahore.
On the other hand, the continual strikes and demonstrations called by the religious parties were hurting business, he said.
The general has managed to rule without serious political opposition in large measure by successfully dividing and manipulating the opposition political parties.
The leaders of the largest parties, two former prime ministers, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, remain in exile, accused of corruption, and their parties have withered in their absence. Even the legislators in parliament complain they are sidelined from much of the decision making.
"It's all dictated democracy, the real reins of power are with Musharraf," said Talat Masood, a retired general and political analyst in Islamabad. The demonstrations have been a sign of pent up frustrations, he said. "The government has muzzled the political parties and they did this to vent their anger on the government."
Suggestions from members of the government that elections could be postponed until 2008, which would allow General Musharraf to be confirmed for a second term by the currently pliable Parliament, have also stirred up the opposition, Mr. Talat said.
Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, who acts as a spokesman for the Pakistani military and for President Musharraf, said the president was committed to the democratic process, and wanted parliamentary elections to take place next year, despite the suggestions by some in the government that elections be postponed.
The newly elected national and provincial assemblies would then elect a president. President Musharraf would serve another term if asked, and only then would he speak on whether he would give up his post as chief of the army, General Sultan said. |
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