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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RON BL who wrote (258253)	5/24/2002 2:32:11 AM
From: Skywatcher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Yeah Ray....you to@! Musharraf's Support Wanes As Conflict With India Looms By AHMED RASHID Special to THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, May 23 ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- President Pervez Musharraf ordered up a term-extending referendum last month largely to give his military rule a cloak of democratic legitimacy. Instead, the vote has only weakened the general politically at a time when he can little afford it: A war with India looms ever closer, and internal security threats are complicating Mr. Musharraf's central role in the U.S.-led antiterror effort. Mr. Musharraf prevailed overwhelmingly in the April 30 vote -- widely suspected as being rigged -- extending by five years the power he seized by bloodless coup two and a half years ago. But since the vote, public confidence in Mr. Musharraf seems to be at an all-time low (though reliable poll numbers are hard to come by), and almost the entire political spectrum condemns the regime -- no small development in a country that once regarded the military as the only reliable arbiter of squabbling civilian politicians. The general could not have picked a worse time to compromise his credibility. Domestically, extremist Islamic parties angered by his cooperation with the U.S.-led war effort are regrouping to challenge him. For the first time since independence in 1947, Pakistan's army faces a security crisis on two fronts: the threat of an uprising by tribal warlords in the west and of invasion by India in the east. Despite it all, Pakistani politicians and the public refuse to rally around the army, something unimaginable during the country's previous three wars with India . As if all that weren't enough, the economy is sinking and market pessimism is rising: Karachi's main stock index plunged 14% in the three days through Wednesday. "We have lost our way again," says a Pakistani bank executive. "Musharraf has gone a full cycle from being a pariah leader before Sept. 11, to the toast of the world, and now it's downhill all the way." That's largely because of the way Mr. Musharraf went about securing his hold on power. After ousting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in October 1999, Mr. Musharraf appointed himself president last June and pledged to hold a general election by this October. But, failing in his attempt to set up a political group that would contest the election and implement his policies afterward, he decided to cement his power by referendum. The government claimed a 70% voter turnout, while opposition parties and independent monitors said it was no more than 10%. Nevertheless, Mr. Musharraf proclaimed victory, polarizing the country and uniting a previously divided opposition against his regime. Indeed, an opposition All Parties Conference convened in Lahore on May 19 resolved that Mr. Musharraf "stands discredited and lacks the stature and moral authority to deal with the current threat to national security," and called for a caretaker government to hold immediate elections. The parties also demanded that the government end a ban on political activities "because wars cannot be fought unless the nation backs the armed forces." Let's see.....our KEY ALLIE Mushareff is under fire and needs support in order to keep the entire Far East from expoloding....and BUSH DOESN"T DO ANYTHING OF MEANING!@ CC