Packistani Standoff

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is learning that you can't play neutral when it comes to Muslim extremists. In a showdown between the government and the militant followers of Islamic cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi, Musharraf has threatened to kill them all unless they surrender. The extremists, mostly students, have been holed up in a mosque in the capital city of Islamabad. They have said that martyrdom is favorable to surrender. The extremists want a change in Pakistan to Islamic rule similar to that of the Taliban. They have women and children in the mosque with them.

For too long, Musharraf has been straddling the fence on the war on terror, striking deals with the tribesmen in the north and pretty much making the north a safe haven for the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. He is now discovering (like the Saudis) that deals with terrorists only last as long as the terrorists want them to. Musharraf needs to buckle down and get serious with these terrorists, just like the governments of Indonesia and the Philippines have. Both of these governments have made great strides in ridding their populations of these vermin and are truly players in the Global War On Terror.

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