Musharraf Hears the Footsteps - Fiddles As Pakistan Burns.

The BBC's Barbara Plett is watching as the Taliban puts on a Paki face. The Islamists in Pakistan, calling themselves Taliban, are becoming bolder as Musharraf fiddles. They have organized themselves into "neighborhood watch groups" and armed to the teeth, they patrol their "assigned areas" enforce strict Islamic standards. Meanwhile, Musharraf is criticized from all sides and it appears that he may have already lost control. He has been unwilling and perhaps unable to bring the necessary force to bear on the militants. Instead, he has tried to appease them but it's not working. Pakistan has been modernizing and the western influences of pop culture have had a strong appeal there. As in Iran, the fundamentalists are attempting to beat back the pop culture and Musharraf is allowing these religious vigilantes to operate unimpeded.

Experts who know about such things have cited two examples of governments which have successfully dealt with Islamist insurgencies. Egypt and Algeria successfully fought off jihadis who had been trained fighting the Russians in Afghanistan. In the case of Algeria, the cost in blood was very high. Even today, the outcome is in doubt. The eventual victor is likely to be the "last man standing."

Things have been quiet in Egypt lately as Hosni Mubarak eliminates the strong candidates who would oppose his son and successor, Gamal. But while he rigs the election to install his son, the Islamists are gaining popular support and President Gamal Mubarak may regret taking the office.

Musharraf says trouble is rising. May 19, 2007

By MUNIR AHMAD, Associated Press Writer
Sat May 19, 8:22 PM

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - President Gen. Pervez Musharraf acknowledged that Islamic militancy was increasing across Pakistan and said tough measures were needed to counter it, as religious students from a pro-Taliban mosque abducted four police officers.

Musharraf made his remarks in an interview aired late Friday by the private Aaj television channel after four plainclothes officers were captured while patrolling in the capital, Islamabad, near the Lal Masjid mosque _ notorious for launching its own anti-vice campaign. Two officers were later released.

The president said that militancy in Pakistan was increasing, and "we need to strongly counter it." Musharraf did not elaborate."The remaining two policemen will also be freed soon," Ghazi told reporters.Critics have accused Musharraf's government of appeasing the religious vigilantes _ despite concerns that pro-Taliban hard-liners, intent on enforcing a stringent version of Islamic law or Shariah, are gaining sway in Pakistan.

There will soon be chaos is Pakistan and its not likely that the affluent lawyers like this judge will be at the top of the food chain when the dust settles.

Suspended Top Judge Attacks Musharraf, May 6, 2007

By ASIF SHAHZAD, Associated Press Writer
LAHORE, Pakistan - Pakistan's top judge launched a thinly veiled attack on President Gen. Pervez Musharraf before thousands of supporters Sunday in his strongest criticism since being suspended by Musharraf two months ago.

The suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry sparked a political crisis for the president, with critics accusing him of trying to tame the judiciary during an election year to avoid legal challenges to his continued military rule.

"The dictatorial system of government and the concept of concentration of power is now ended," Chaudhry told 10,000 lawyers and nearly as many opposition activists in the eastern city of Lahore. "All these are bitter lessons of history."

As the lawyers, some carrying black flags, chanted "Musharraf Go!" and raised clenched fists in the air, Chaudhry told the rally in the parking lot of the Lahore High Court that, "Nations that do not learn from history and repeat its mistakes, they have to face the consequences."

Chaudhry left the capital, Islamabad, in a motorcade on Saturday morning for Lahore but his journey was repeatedly delayed by rallies along the way. Thousands of lawyers had waited through the night at the High Court to welcome the chief justice, he said.

"Neither a political nor any judicial scene has ever witnessed such an event in Pakistan's history," said Ahsan Bhoon, president of the High Court Bar Association in Lahore. "It's the people's verdict for the supremacy of law and the Constitution."
Chaudhry, who became chief justice in 2005, has a reputation for challenging government misdeeds and human rights abuses in the country. The government has accused him of misuse of his office. The top judicial complaints council is hearing Chaudhry's case and Musharraf has said he will abide by its ruling _ which is not expected for months.

Musharraf may be finished and with reports like Plett's, no one should be surprised when the Islamists get the upper hand. When they do, it's all over for the US in that part of the world. Pakistan, Aghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, the Gulf countries, and Saudi Arabia could tumble like dominos.

That future is almost unthinkable and maybe that's why the world's attention is on Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.