USA Cannot Solve the Problems of Pakistan

Today's Op Ed in the New York Times aptly describes the current situation in Pakistan, asking

"Why do General Musharraf and his army feel a sense of kinship with the very people they are supposed to be fighting against? Why are he and his army scared of liberal lawyers and teachers but happy to deal with Islamist Pashtuns in the tribal areas? "

Private TV shows have been removed from the air, Police are out intimidating average citizens and TV personnel, and the world knows of the wholesale roundup of lawyers and judges. In worse news, citizens are disappearing.

A lawyer who runs a charity puts it simply about Musharraf: "He has lost his marbles."

Pakistan asks the West how it can be so easy on Musharraf? I don't think they get it. There have been a number of extremely harsh statements against the Emergency (now more properly and aptly referred to as Martial Law) from Washington, every amount of encouragement for General Musharraf to do the right thing. The people of Pakistan are generous in their criticism of the Bush adminisration, but they offers no suggestions for solutions. The leaders of the Western world figure those solutions are up to the people of Pakistan, and believe that if there are free and fair elections the rest should fall into place. Meanwhile, from the look of things, the good citizens are going to have to put on their thinking caps, examine their alternatives, and come up with a plan that will work.

If you click on the above picture, you will be able to see a larger verion of the ad by Pakistani TV station, Geo, where you can read the text.