India Intelligence Report
 

Petulant Pak Cozing Up With China

 

As the import of the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal dawned on Pakistan, President Pervez Musharraf is already talking about his country's relationship with China. Stating that his relationship with the US will always be there because it is a uni-polar world, he said that Pakistan's relationship with China is strategic. He also said that he will seek US help to resolve the Kashmir issue. Meanwhile, religious parties in Pakistan called for a national strike on Friday to protest against the Danish cartoons that depicted Prophet Mohammed in bad taste. The strike was total as Friday was a half-day and this is an issue that brought most of the Islamic world together. However, it turned out to be a major embarrassment for Musharraf as it comes soon after the Karachi bombing and coincides with US President George Bush's arrival from India. The religious parties accuse Musharraf of being an American stooge and for abandoning the Taliban in Afghanistan. Paradoxically, the Western press and prominent members of Western Governments for not doing much on terror and mollycoddling the religious groups are criticizing Musharraf. Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is often considered to be operating a parallel Government in Pakistan and is suspected to have infiltrated lower-ranking officers of several elite regiments. The world is anxious about the safety of the nuclear weapons in Pakistan should the Musharraf's Government collapse. India and the US have publicly stated that they want to see a democratic and economically viable Pakistan. However, Musharraf seems to have no intention of organizing elections and has instead exiled most of the prominent leaders accusing them of corruption, embezzlement, and mismanagement.

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