It has often been said that Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf may just as well wear a big, fat target on his back — but the latest news from Pakistan indicates some Al Qaeda elements were looking at the target and reportedly plotting an assassination and coup:
The level of tolerance between the government of President General Pervez Musharraf and Islamists elements, whether they are part of the establishment or outside it, has reached a point of no return, a development with vast implications for the US-led “war on terror”.
Islamist elements are determined to push until one side breaks, while Musharraf, a key US ally in the “war on terror” and under intense pressure from Washington, has to take rapid steps to contain the rise of militancy in the region, which has Pakistan as its nucleus.
According to Asia Times Online, this recently came to a head when a coup plot was unearthed:
The recent discovery of a planned al-Qaeda-backed coup against Musharraf’s regime, which included men in uniform associated with sensitive strategic institutions, underlines Musharraf’s difficulties.
According to information obtained by Asia Times Online, the coup plot was hatched in the Waziristan tribal area headquarters of al-Qaeda. The conspiracy was uncovered after a mobile phone used to activate a rocket aimed at the president’s residence was traced to an air force officer. More than 40 people, both inside and outside the military, were subsequently arrested.The most alarming issue for the Pakistani establishment was not only the involvement of air force officers, but the apparent deep penetration of al-Qaeda into highly sensitive areas.
This underscores two aspects of what seems to be the reality in Pakistan: continued reports of its security services sympathizing with al-Qaeda types…and the continued reports of various plots against Musharraf. Will the Pakistan President’s luck hold out? MORE:
Those arrested in the conspiracy plot include air force engineers associated with the Air Weapon Complex (AWC) of Pakistan, a leading organization in the field of air-delivered weapons and systems. Its personnel are subjected to vigorous and intrusive background checks.
The personnel arrested were employed in the high-profile research and development section of the AWC. The linkage of such security-cleared people with al-Qaeda, who, according to Asia Times Online’s information, were to carry out the attacks on signals received from Waziristan, sheds light on the vulnerable security situation in Pakistan. At the same time, it shows the depth of feeling in segments of society who reject Pakistan’s role in the “war on terror”.
Pakistani security officials have confirmed that the rocket plot to assassinate Musharraf was an al-Qaeda-linked conspiracy. At a press conference, Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao announced that eight al-Qaeda militants had been arrested.
Significantly, however, the establishment has not admitted publicly that any military officers were involved in the conspiracy, as they were in at least two previous attempts on Musharraf’s life since he seized power in 1999.
That could be to defuse a precarious situation. Question: does Washington have any contingency plans ready in the event that Musharraf is taken out? What could it do? What could it afford to do? What is it physically able to do?
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.