ISLAMABAD, 7 July 2007 — Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is riding high after cracking down on a radical mosque, with liberals who usually criticize him welcoming the move and no sign of an expected militant backlash.
The Red Mosque’s attempts to enforce a Taleban-style mini-state in the heart of the leafy capital Islamabad had caused growing anger among residents, and prompted fears that extremism was spreading nationwide.
The humiliating capture this week of the firebrand mosque leader as he tried to flee the compound wearing a woman’s burqa has demoralized some hard-liners.
Although Abdul Aziz has been arrested and now faces criminal charges, his brother, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, however has refused to surrender, saying he would prefer to be martyred.
“There is no concept of surrender in jihad (holy war). Aziz has embarrassed all jihadists,” a senior member of an outlawed militant outfit told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Musharraf could now capitalize on his boost in support to try to ride out a separate crisis over his suspension of the nation’s chief justice, and to press ahead with his fight against militants, analysts said.
“It’s a win-win situation for Musharraf,” Najam Sethi, editor of the English-language Daily Times newspaper, told AFP.
“Musharraf can use this success against extremists and the Taleban in the tribal areas” bordering Afghanistan, Sethi said.
In Islamabad — where the mosque’s followers had shut down entertainment stores and burned “un-Islamic” CDs in the streets — music shop owner Mohammad Atif said Musharraf has shown Pakistan is “not a banana republic.” The mood was vastly changed from just days ago when nationwide protests over Musharraf’s ouster of top judge Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry entered a fourth straight month.
Sheikh Aftab, who runs a general store in the capital, said this week’s operation had dispelled rumors that Musharraf was secretly in league with the mosque and using it to provide a distraction from the judicial crisis.
Musharraf has been accused by neighboring Afghanistan of using his intelligence services to support Taleban militants there.
“Now at least that impression has been dismissed — and also the impression that these fundamentalists are invincible because they have the backing of the state and are ideologically motivated,” Aftab said.
Supporters of Pakistan’s Islamic parties have staged demonstrations in several cities over the mosque siege but they were small compared to previous demonstrations on other issues.
Party sources said the lack of anger was because the Red Mosque was too extreme for them.
“These brothers did not follow the advice of senior clerics. Major madrasa organizations appealed to them and played role as mediators, but they ignored them,” said one religious party official on condition of anonymity.
There was, however, anger over an interview with Aziz broadcast on state television on Wednesday, in which the captured prayer leader was forced to wear the burqa that he used to try to flee.
Parliamentary opposition leader and pro-Taleban hard-liner Maulana Fazlur Rehman said in a telephone call to the channel: “You have shown no respect to humanity by interviewing him in a burqa.” Former Pakistani intelligence chief Hamid Gul, now a campaigning fundamentalist, warned Musharraf not to use the tactics he employed at the mosque with hardened militants in the tribal areas.
Aziz and Ghazi “are traditional prayer leaders and not jihadis (holy warriors) otherwise they would have given a tough time to the security forces,” Gul said.
“It would be a grave miscalculation if the government tried to use such offensives against jihadists, who had defeated them in (the tribal region of) Wazirstan time and again,” he told AFP.
