Musharraf's move to end siege pleases allies, galvanizes foes

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - President Pervez Musharraf's decision to have the army storm the Red Mosque may strengthen the U.S.-allied leader's hand among Pakistanis dismayed at how Islamic extremists used the holy site as a fortress.
It also has pushed a fight over his bungled attempt to fire the country's top judge out of a harsh media spotlight and prompted a fresh show of support from Washington.

But the general has given extremist enemies who have repeatedly tried to assassinate him a new rallying cause, raising the prospect of surging violence as Pakistan heads toward elections and he seeks another five-year term.

Al-Qaeda's deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, became the latest to demand revenge against Musharraf over the battle, issuing a video statement yesterday urging Pakistanis to wage holy war against their government.

"The big question mark now is what is going to be the reaction of the Islamists," said Shaun Gregory, head of Bradford University's Pakistan Security Research Unit in Britain.

At least 106 people, including 10 soldiers, died in the weeklong confrontation at the mosque, which ended when commandos attacked the heavily armed extremists holed up in the complex.

The extremists had been using the mosque as a base to send out radicalized students to enforce their version of Islamic morality, including abducting alleged prostitutes and trying to "reeducate" them at the compound in the heart of Pakistan's capital.

Although the mosque's pro-Taliban cleric, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, was among the dead, the army said dozens of women and children inside when the 35-hour assault began Tuesday escaped unharmed - a critical point for the government, which had feared a bloodbath.

Yet several radical clerics and leaders are calling for attacks on Musharraf's government, insisting the troops slaughtered innocent students and defiled the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque.

A string of attacks since the mosque siege began July 3 has hit at government targets in Pakistan's northwest, where many are sympathetic to the hard-line Islam of the Taliban. At least 30 died, including 17 soldiers and police officers.

Mansoor Dadullah, a senior commander of Taliban fighters in neighboring Afghanistan, yesterday called for suicide attacks on Pakistani security forces.

Still, the siege could blunt an opposition drive against Musharraf's plan to ask lawmakers for a new five-year term this fall without first giving up his post as army chief.

Images of troops surrounding the white-domed Red Mosque amid explosions and gunfire overshadowed a weekend meeting of 60 opposition parties in London designed to coordinate their campaign against Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup.

It also diverted attention from Musharraf's attempt to fire the Supreme Court chief justice, a misstep that set off a broader democracy movement and alienated some Musharraf supporters.

Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister and opposition leader expected by many to return from exile and join Musharraf in a power-sharing deal after general elections, praised his tough line. "I'm glad there was no cease-fire with the militants in the mosque," she told Britain's Sky TV, "because cease-fires simply embolden the militants."

Pakistan's mainstream, liberal newspapers also backed the assault, though ordinary citizens appeared less enthusiastic. Several people interviewed sympathized with the clerics' professed goals, especially closing down alleged brothels in Pakistan's relatively Westernized capital.

But they also criticized the mosque leaders' increasingly aggressive anti-vice campaign, which included stockpiling of weapons at the holy site and an adjoining madrassa, or religious school.

"Musharraf's government did this to please America," Murtaza Khan, a Peshawar shopkeeper, said of the assault at the mosque. But he added: "This incident also shows that there should be checks on the madrassas."