Frontline Pakistan : The Struggle With Militant Islam - Arz-e-Pak

186 Frontline Pakistan
American consulate in Karachi, killing an American diplomat. During
his 24-hour stay in the Pakistani capital, Bush came closer than he had
ever been before to Osama bin Laden, who was believed to be hiding
in the tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
While praising Musharraf for his ‘courage’, Bush called upon his
‘buddy’ to do more to curb Islamic militancy and stop cross-border
infiltration of Taliban insurgents into Afghanistan. 2 The public
admonition caused serious embarrassment to the Pakistani military
leader, who had risked his life by supporting the USA in the war on
terror. Pakistani military authorities were deeply disappointed with
Bush’s visit. While a day earlier, in New Delhi, the US President
had hailed India as an emerging world power and awarded it an
unprecedented, civilian nuclear technology deal, all Musharraf got
was a lecture on getting tougher with the Taliban and vague promises
of future economic, military and technological assistance. 3 Although
Pakistan remained central to US security interests in the region, this
raw deal raised scepticism among Pakistan’s army officers, who had
little trust anyway in any long-term US commitment to Pakistan. The
Bush administration continued to back Musharraf as a valuable ally,
but he stood on weaker ground than ever.
Musharraf appeared to be in an impossible position. His politics of
expediency had given huge latitude to the radical Islamists. Despite
his promise to reform them, thousands of madrasas across the
country remained breeding grounds for Islamic extremism, fomenting
sectarian violence. The military had been completely bogged down in
Waziristan where three years of military campaign against al-Qaedabacked
militants had produced few results. Hundreds of soldiers were
killed in the war which seemed to have no end. Islamist militant groups
continued to operate freely, despite their proscription, as Musharraf
battled to perpetuate his rule.
To make matters worse, the devasating earthquake of October
2005 highlighted how much more power and effectiveness the jihadist
groups had on the ground compared to the government. The 2002 ban
had caused many of the main militant groups, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba,
Jaish-e-Mohammed and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, to reinvent themselves
as welfare organizations. With their grassroots networks, their well
disciplined cadres were the first to reach the quake-stricken areas
and, within hours of the tragedy, had begun to rescue those trapped
under the debris of collapsed houses, as well as providing emergency
treatment to the injured. Laying down their arms, hundreds of militants