Show Working with a dictator Bushs Bush's feeble response The following folIo editorial appeared in Tuesdays Tuesday's Washington Post The Washington Post Pakistani President Pervez claims that he s suspended the constitution and imposed de facto martial law Saturday to save his country from Islamic extremists But Buthis Buthis Buthis his crackdown has been directed almost entirely at Pakistan's moderate secular and pro-democracy pro opposition the very people who could offer a apolitical apolitical apolitical political alternative to the and al At least l lawyers judges political party leaders human rights activists and journalists have been arrested Independent television stations have been shut Lawyers who tried to demonstrate against the repression in front of the Supreme Court on Monday were attacked by security forces Mr is waging war not against extremism but against democracy He acted because he feared the Supreme Court was preparing to rule that his orchestrated re-election re as president last month was unconstitutional He was seeking to escape from commitments made to Pakistan's secular political leaders and to the Bush administration that he would step down as army anny commander by Nov 15 and hold free and fair parliamentary elections early next year The choice the United States and other Western Vestern governments now face is not between Mr and the terrorist forces he has sporadically combated since 2001 It is between a deeply unpopular ineffective and politically exhausted military ruler who is trying to extend his tenure by force and one of the Muslim worlds world's largest and most liberal civil soCieties rightly said that democracy is the best antidote to the totalitarianism of Islamic extremists Mr own record is proof that autocratic governments only make extremism stronger There should be no question as to which side the United States is on Yet so far the administration has hedged its bets It has called measures Mr extreme and said it cannot support emergency rule But Mr Bush said Monday that we want to continue working with him on and officials have made clear that aid directed at that collaboration which collaboration which aid is most of the US U.S. Pakistan receives will not be affected The general probably will regard that stance as an acquiescence to his coup as will most Pakistanis and the millions of other Muslims around the world who are watching the US U.S. response The United States should explicitly and fully support Pakistan's civilian politicians and and judges Such a stance need not cause the downfall of Mr he still has the option to back down restore the constitution and schedule elections But as things stand if he manages to withstand the almost universal domestic opposition to his coup the United States will be blamed for propping him up and for taking the wrong side in a crucial test of its seriousness about fighting extremism with democracy |