The Musharraf dilemma

The recent UK lead criticisms of Pakistan and their madrassas seem to have elements of truth but the madrassas are not necessarily the problem. These religious schools have existed for centuries and the overwhelming majority of them pose no threat. The problem is that there are exceptions that are extremely radical and are training grounds for hatred and violence. While Musharraf has rightly said that the UK also shares some of the blame (such as racism/failure to integrate and foreign policy) the problem for Musharraf is that he has yet to take serious action against his own military intelligence services who are often involved in the training of militants. The real center of attention here should be on the Pakistan intelligence services who are tapping in to the radical undercurrent and providing training for violence.

These are the same people who worked closely with the Taliban in the past and who may very well also be protecting bin Laden. Musharraf clearly does not have enough power internally to take on this radical element and has been reported before, a clear majority of the population of Pakistan supports suicide bombings. Musharraf can continue telling the West what it wants to hear but for a critical player in this global campaign, how much can the West really push him to take action against a core group within his country that seems to enjoy such strong support? How much can the West also tolerate this continuing problem, but if he goes, the next in line could be considerably worse.