Immediately after the London Bomb blasts, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf came on TV and offered words of advice to Tony Blair and declared that there were no terrorists in Pakistan. He also issued an order to crackdown on terrorists, if there were any. Now this dance routine, which follows every terrorist act in the world has become so perfect that it can be turned into a broadway musical. Sadly no one takes him seriously. The editorial in LA Times notes
Yes, there’s a pattern here. To be clear, it is not that Pakistanis are more inclined toward terrorism than are citizens of any other country. It is that Musharraf is unable, or unwilling, to confront the terrorists in his midst. Musharraf has even had the gall to say that while, yes, Pakistan has a problem with Islamic extremism, so does Britain and the government there needs to address it.
Pakistan has arrested hundreds of suspected terrorists, including top Al Qaeda operatives. For his efforts, Musharraf has twice been the target of assassins. But terrorist training camps can still be found in Pakistan, and the army cracks down on infiltration into India only under foreign pressure.
But Musharraf could direct his underlings to crack down harder. When outside pressure reaches a boil, he reacts. When the pressure eases, so does he. That’s not good enough[Pakistan’s problem
The conveyor belt which leads to the terrorist camps requires as its input some fertile minds which are stuck in the the 7th century and as Tavleen Singh notes, there is whole region where they are bred.
After last week’s bombings in London our friendly neighbourhood military dictator went on international television to aver, as he usually does after an act of terrorism, that Pakistan would never allow itself to become a breeding ground for terrorists. What he did not mention was that he has little control over the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) government in his Northwest Frontier Province which just passed (July 14) the Northwest Frontier Province Hisba Act, 2005 which will effectively set up an Islamic government of Taliban genre. When it becomes law, one of the first things that will happen is the creation of a governmental department to ‘‘discourage vice and encourage virtue’’. Sound familiar? A mullah will be appointed to head it and his job will be the protection of Islamic values and traditions according to the rules laid down by the Prophet 1400 years ago[Madrasas can only breed fanatics]
Thus as the front-end is busy denying everything, the back-end is busy setting up the factory for future terrorist activities.
