Gen. Pervez Musharraf consolidated his seizure of total power yesterday as police arrested hundreds of political and military activists. But Musharraf's most potent critics abroad and at home -- the U.S. government and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto -- signaled they are unlikely to challenge his move. The Bush administration, which calls Musharraf an essential ally in its battle against al-Qaida and the Taliban, again spoke stiffly against his declaration of emergency rule. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said U.S. laws could force Washington to review aid to Pakistan. But the vast bulk of the $1 billion-plus in annual aid is military funds controlled by the Pentagon, which said it plans no change in assistance. Journalist James Rupert, head of Newsday's international bureau in Islamabad, Pakistan began his career abroad as a Peace Corps volunteer, teaching mechanics and welding in Morocco.
James Rupert writes: Musharraf's power grab gaining strength
In Pakistan, Gen. Musharraf's power grab gaining strength
Human rights activist arrest in Pakistan
BY JAMES RUPERT | james.rupert@newsday.com
11:54 PM EST, November 4, 2007
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Gen. Pervez Musharraf consolidated his seizure of total power yesterday as police arrested hundreds of political and military activists. But Musharraf's most potent critics abroad and at home -- the U.S. government and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto -- signaled they are unlikely to challenge his move.
While Musharraf now appears likely to ride out the initial storm of domestic and international opposition, he is weakened overall by his return to effective one-man rule, political analysts said. And the big winners in Pakistan's political melee will be Islamic militant groups that have killed more than 700 people in attacks since July, analysts said.
As business resumed today and Pakistanis wondered whether mass protests might begin, the one leader capable of challenging Musharraf in the streets gave little sign she will do so.
Bhutto demanded "free and fair elections," but declined to rule out possible cooperation with Musharraf in government.
The Bush administration, which calls Musharraf an essential ally in its battle against al-Qaida and the Taliban, again spoke stiffly against his declaration of emergency rule. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said U.S. laws could force Washington to review aid to Pakistan. But the vast bulk of the $1 billion-plus in annual aid is military funds controlled by the Pentagon, which said it plans no change in assistance.
A day after Musharraf suspended the constitution and civil rights, Pakistan was quiet but not calm. As part of the crackdown, authorities arrested 400 to 500 people to prevent protests, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz announced, but opposition spokesmen said the number may have reached thousands. Supporters of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif -- the man Musharraf overthrew to seize power initially in 1999 -- were prominent among those arrested.
Rice called on Musharraf to "exercise restraint" and to conduct parliamentary elections on schedule early next year. Aziz told a news conference in Islamabad, however, the emergency declaration would remain in place "as long as it is necessary" and that elections could be postponed up to a year but that no decision had been made.
Authorities will "have zero tolerance" for protest, said Azhar Ali Farooqi, police chief of Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city. "We will take action, arrest and use force if necessary," he told Reuters news agency.
A top government adviser acknowledged late yesterday Musharraf's move came only after a Supreme Court judge quietly informed the government last week it planned ruling against Musharraf's effort to stay on as president. Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said the judge had said the decision was unanimous. "After that, there was no option," said Hussain, president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League. Musharraf fired the chief justice, along with at least six other Supreme Court judges on Saturday.
A key weapon in stifling protest is Musharraf's shutdown of independent TV stations and restrictions on reporting. He has prohibited news reporting or book publishing that quotes Islamic militants or "defames or brings into ridicule" Musharraf or government officials.
In Karachi, Bhutto repeated her criticism of Musharraf's action, telling reporters, "this is martial law and the people of Pakistan will protest against it." Last month, Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, the country's biggest political machine, showed its ability to pull massive crowds into the street. But Bhutto, who returned to Pakistan under terms of a deal with Musharraf to take part in elections, avoided any suggestion that she might confront him directly, saying only she will consult other political leaders about a response.
"I think her protest is going to be symbolic, not real," said Rasul Bakhsh Rais, a prominent political scientist. Cooperating, even if passively, with Musharraf "would cost her credibility among the middle class and liberals," but she would keep her party's massive bank of rural, illiterate voters, Rais said.
Rais and analyst Najam Sethi predicted that lawyers and other pro-democracy activists within civil society would protest in the streets. "But with the electronic media blinded, and ... freed from the oversight of the courts, the police and paramilitary forces will ... crush the protest movement," Sethi wrote in the newspaper he edits, the Daily Times.
"The real danger now is from the extremists," such as the Taliban and allied groups that have seized control in several districts of Pakistan, said Rais. "They are going to use the current political vacuum to expand into new areas" of Pakistan, he said.
Islamic militant groups control the Pakistani border zone known as Waziristan and much of the once-touristic Swat Valley, only 75 miles from Islamabad, the capital. Musharraf cited the militants' threat as part of the reason for his seizure of total power, saying Pakistan's increasingly independent-minded Supreme Court was obstructing anti-terrorist operations with its pro-human rights rulings.
