J's Cafe Nette

This is where a real threat to world peace comes from. They are one administration away from sending a nuclear missile into the US or supplying one to our enemies.

After a series of political blunders in the last two months, Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, is being advised by his political supporters to make a dramatic change of course or risk losing power amid more chaos and bloodshed.

Members of the ruling party, the Pakistani Muslim League, who provide General Musharraf’s base of support in Parliament, say that nationwide protests since the suspension of the country’s chief justice in March, and violent clashes that left 42 people dead in Karachi on May 12, have cast a pall over his leadership.

They are encouraging General Musharraf to strike a compromise with the Supreme Court justice, who did not shy away from challenges to the government and whose removal has been protested as a threat to the judiciary.

Some party members have also recommended that General Musharraf open the elections for the presidency, which are supposed to take place this year, to his exiled political opponents and that he make sure that the polling is free and fair.

The alternative to compromise, party members warn, is a hard-line military solution that leads only to greater confrontation.

For the moment, General Musharraf seems to be sticking to his planned course to maintain power rather than seek conciliation with either the chief justice, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, or his political rivals, supporters and opponents say.

Last week the president repeated his insistence that there would be no deal to bring home either of the opposition leaders, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, who left the country under a cloud of corruption allegations.

“About their return before elections, no, there is nobody returning before elections,” he told the private, Karachi-based Aaj Television in an interview on Friday.

But a number of party members say they intend to push their case. Opposition members and some from the ruling party warn that not only is General Musharraf’s future at stake, but also the stability of the country, which sits on the front line of American efforts to combat Taliban insurgents and Al Qaeda.

“There are two ways he can go: retreat to the bunker or stop, pause, review, reflect and reverse course,” said one ruling party member who did not want to be identified. “He has to show leadership, magnanimity, and be loyal to the broader objective. The important thing is Pakistan’s future.”

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