Bush Issues Mild Rebuke of Musharraf

Since President Musharraf effectively declared martial law in Pakistan and called off the forthcoming elections - and placed judges who were set to rule on whether his recent election was even legal under house arrest - the silence from President Bush has been deafening.

Now, finally, he has swung into action to deliver a mild rebuke.

The American president, who had not contacted General Musharraf directly since he established emergency law on Saturday, told a press conference: "You can't be the president [of Pakistan] and the head of the military at the same time. I had a very frank discussion with him."

But, speaking at a press conference with the French president Niçolas Sarkozy, Mr Bush recounted his conversation with Gen Musharraf: "My message was that we believe strongly in elections, and that you ought to have elections soon, and you need to take off your uniform.

So, no demand that elections should go ahead as planned, merely the indication that elections should take place "soon" and the request that the military dictator remove his uniform, something which he has already promised to do. That's hardly reading the riot act to Musharraf.

The US deputy secretary of state, John Negroponte, softened Mr Bush's rebuke further with a statement to the House foreign affairs committee in which he disagreed with Gen Musharraf's tactics but described him as "an indispensable ally" in the US battle against terrorism.

As I've said before, Musharraf is Bush's man in Pakistan, pursuing Bush's policies; policies which have made him deeply unpopular at home.

I am not remotely surprised to find Bush backing the military dictator every step of the way, this is exactly what I thought he would do.

Benazir Bhutto is now threatening to arrange a mass rally in the capital unless Gen Musharraf met her demands to step down from the army and restore constitutional rule. So far the only form of protest has come from lawyers infuriated at the sacking of their chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who remains under house arrest.

And the response to the lawyers protests has been brutal.

Baton-wielding riot police have moved swiftly and sometimes brutally to crush the dissent, firing teargas and arresting thousands. The protest flagged yesterday, with minor scuffles in Lahore. Ms Bhutto's newfound steel edge could change the dynamic. She urged supporters to reach Rawalpindi tomorrow "at all costs". "We can't work for dictatorship. We can work for democracy," she told an Islamabad news conference. "We're talking about the future of Pakistan as a modern nation."

In a possible prelude to the showdown, teargas was used on 400 Bhutto activists outside parliament yesterday, moments after government legislators inside the building had rubber-stamped Gen Musharraf's emergency rule.

The demonstrators retreated through the choking clouds of gas chanting "Benazir! Benazir!" and "Down with the emergency!"

Until yesterday Ms Bhutto had played a careful game, issuing verbal condemnations of Gen Musharraf but refraining from calling her party, which has countrywide support, on to the streets.

Bhutto bringing people on to the streets may very well have a significant effect here. Is Musharraf going to deal with them with the same level of brutality that he has displayed towards the lawyers? Will Bush continue to issue mild rebukes if such tactics are being used against women and children as opposed to lawyers?

Even now she is keeping open the possibility of cohabitation with Gen Musharraf. He could "open the door" again if he "revives the constitution, retires as chief of army staff, and sticks to the schedule of holding elections", she said.

Still, some analysts detected a change. "She has come to the conclusion that if she doesn't put genuine full pressure [on him], Gen Musharraf will not lose his uniform and the political parties have no future, including herself," said Talat Masood, an analyst and retired army general. "The Americans have also realised that Gen Musharraf has a rapidly diminishing utility. And he's reaching a point where he is more a problem than a solution."

How long can Bush and Negroponte sing the praises of their "indispensable ally" whilst he behaves in a way which runs totally counter to the democratic ideal? I suppose until Bhutto agrees to take over where he left off, pursuing the same policies which made Musharraf so unpopular in the first place. Which will make Bhutto just as unpopular as Musharraf is and increase the likelihood that Pakistan - a nuclear power - may fall into the hands of extremists.

On a lighter note:

"You can't be the President and the head of military at the same time.

Hmmm, that's rich coming from a Commander in Chief who insists that all power in wartime resides solely with him....

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Tags: Musharraf, Bhutto, Pakistan, Bush, military dictator, elections