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CARLOTTA GALL and ELISABETH BUMILLER

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, March 3 — President Bush arrived here today for a 24-hour visit to a capital locked down under extraordinary security, as a broad coalition of political parties shut down shops and transportation across the country and planned more demonstrations for the weekend.

The visit by Mr. Bush, the first by an American president in six years, threatened to further roil a nation still seething over the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper. Thousands of people have turned out for weeks in rolling protests that were increasingly redirected at Mr. Bush and the pro-American policies of Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

Mr. Bush nevertheless flew directly to Islamabad aboard Air Force One, a symbolic gesture that he considered the country safe enough for a presidential welcome on an open tarmac and an overnight stay.

But the capital was virtually sealed for his arrival. Concrete barriers and police squads blocked off the main avenues running to Parliament, the presidential palace and the diplomatic enclave. And once the president touched down, it was not clear that he rode with the presidential motorcade, which in any case raced through dark, deserted streets.

Before his arrival, Mr. Bush heralded General Musharraf as a courageous man who has stood firm through several assassination attempts as a front-line ally in the fight against terrorism, and he has commended the general's vision for Pakistan as a moderate Islamic state.

But General Musharraf now faces more direct political pressure than at any time since he seized power in a miltary coup in 1999, as the turmoil over the cartoons has given Islamic parties an opportunity to develop a fledgling alliance with the larger, secular opposition.

"Islamabad is not ready to accept a visit from Bush," Syed Munawar Hasan, secretary general of the largest Islamic political party, Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, warned during the past week of rallies, arrests and growing political antagonism. "The people hate Bush — the demonstrations will show that — there is no doubt about that."

The problem of terrorism inside Pakistan and the kinds of pressures General Musharraf faces were evident on Thursday when a suicide bomber killed an American diplomat and two others in a large explosion outside the American Consulate in Karachi.

Six years ago, President Bill Clinton arrived in Islamabad by unmarked military jet accompanied by a decoy plane with the familiar blue and white of Air Force One and "United States of America" on its side.

Despite Mr. Bush's more public landing, Air Force One approached Islamabad with its running lights off and interior shades drawn, a precaution that would make it harder for anyone attempting to fire a missile.

After his airport arrival was covered by local television crews, Mr. Bush then slipped away from public view, and reporters traveling with him could not tell whether he took his presidential limousine or an unmarked Black Hawk helicopter to the heavily fortified residence of the American ambassador, Ryan Crocker, where the president and first lady spent the night.

Once their meetings commence on Saturday, Mr. Bush is expected to support General Musharraf's efforts to advance a solution with India over the disputed territory of Kashmir, and to sign trade and economic agreements.

But there will be no consideration of nuclear cooperation as the main achievement of his visit to India because Pakistan's role in nuclear proliferation, led by the scientist A. Q. Khan, remains a black mark.

Security will remain tight through Mr. Bush's stay. General Musharraf has reacted sternly to the political commotion since the Danish cartoons, banning rallies in Islamabad and in Lahore, where the worst violence occurred on Feb. 14 when five people were killed in a frenzy of looting and burning.

The government has since placed some political leaders under house arrest. Demonstrations are being restricted by large deployments of police officers and rangers armed with automatic weapons.

These steps, however, have not quelled the momentum of the opposition, which has declared Saturday a day of protest and urged supporters to wear black armbands and hang black flags in a statement against Mr. Bush's visit.

After six years of virtually unchallenged power, General Musharraf appears to be entering a rockier period as the political opposition gathers itself.

The demonstrations and the sporadic violence have revealed the political tensions that are building in Pakistan a year ahead of planned elections, and may point to a rough ride ahead for General Musharraf and his cooperation with the United States.

"We will try to make him resign," Qazi Hussein Ahmad, the leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, said in an interview at his home, where he was placed under house arrest for a month, accused by the government of allowing his supporters to damage property in Lahore. "This is the moment of the workers and the people."

He denied that his followers were responsible for the recent violence, which he said was orchestrated by others in order to undermine the religious parties.

The opposition has been implacable in its criticism of General Musharraf's seizure of power in 1999 and of his holding of the two posts of army chief and president, which he shows no sign of giving up, despite clear urging from the Commonwealth, among others.

Opposition politicians also accuse the United States of treating him as an important ally while ignoring the antidemocratic nature of his military coup.

"The people of Pakistan are rather disappointed," said Mian Raza Rabbani, a senator and member of the largest political organization, the liberal-leaning Pakistan People's Party. "They have seen the United States pay a great deal of lip service supporting democracy in Muslim countries, but when we look at what is happening in Pakistan, President Bush says he shares the president's views and his democratic vision for Pakistan. For a great many, that is flawed."

Today, General Musharraf faces many pressures, some of his own making, and particularly dangerous strains are showing within the federation of the four provinces that make up Pakistan.

The Pakistani military and police forces are battling armed insurrections in two of Pakistan's four provinces, the North West Frontier Province and Baluchistan. Newspaper columnists are describing it as fighting on two fronts.

In Baluchistan, tensions have been building over the sharing of natural gas. In the North West Frontier Province, which borders Afghanistan, the army is fighting a long campaign against Islamic extremists, including Taliban remnants. Many believe that Osama bin Laden may be hiding in the region.

The army has lost 400 soldiers in the fighting in the last two years, the president said in a recent television interview. Just this week, a military operation in North Waziristan led to a violent backlash by militants and their supporters who raided government and army stations.

The religious parties accuse General Musharraf of fighting a war against his own people in the tribal areas at the behest of America. Political leaders of all parties have also criticized him for the strike in Baluchistan, where they accuse him of seeking a military solution to a political problem of provincial autonomy.

"Pakistan has never been so unstable, and the federation has never been under greater political strain," said Senator Rabbani.

Above all, it is General Musharraf's failure to build a political base of support that is weakening him, analysts say. The Pakistan Muslim League, cobbled together by the president to form a government, lacks unity and broad appeal.

When he seized power six years ago, General Musharraf was widely welcomed by the people of Pakistan, such was the disgust and weariness with the corrupt and non-functional civilian governments. He is still the most popular politician in the country, according to one recent privately conducted poll.

But the vigorousness of the recent opposition is new. For nearly six years the president ruled without serious political opposition, since he has successfully divided and manipulated the political parties.

The leaders of the largest parties, former Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, remain in exile, accused of corruption, and their parties have withered in their absence. Even when they are in Parliament, legislators complain they are sidelined from much of the decision making.

"It's all dictated democracy; the real reins of power are with Musharraf," said Talat Masood, a retired general and political analyst in Islamabad. The demonstrations have been a sign of pent-up frustrations, he said. "The government has muzzled the political parties and they did this to vent their anger on the government."

Moreover, suggestions from members of the government that elections could be postponed until 2008, which would allow General Musharraf to be confirmed for a second term by the current, pliable Parliament, has stirred up the opposition, he said.

Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, who acts as a spokesman for the Pakistani military and for General Musharraf, said the president is committed to the democratic process, and wants parliamentary elections to take place next year, despite the suggestions by some in the government that elections could be postponed.

The newly elected national and provincial assemblies would then elect a president. General Musharraf would serve another term if asked, and only then will he speak on whether he will give up his post as chief of the army, General Sultan said.

Hari Kumar and Somini Sengupta contributed reporting from New Delhi for this article, and Salman Masood from Pakistan.

Source: The New York Times

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Posted: 2006-03-04 11:55:25
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I can't believe bush had the nerve to visit pakistan,a country where he and america are hated the most by the people,although the pakistani govenment like the U.K is a laptop for the U.S.
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Posted: 2006-03-04 18:06:53
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