Furthermore, many serving and retired members of the military fraternity have over the last 25 years become staunch advocates of the conservative brand of Islam espoused by the religious right-wing. Apart from retired generals, such as Hamid Gul and Aslam Beg, there are serving generals in the Pakistan army (including the ISI) whose close family members were part of the Lal Masjid network. The long rope given to the Masjid’s clerics by Musharraf is attributed to this sympathetic faction within the military. The Lal Masjid operation itself and the lethality of the arms and ammunition that were recovered are indicative of a deep collusion between elements of the security establishment and the mullahs. The scale of the violence triggered in the last 10 days — 200 have died — would suggest there is a deep cleavage within the military. The vernacular press has denounced the Musharraf regime for using an army of Allah against its own true believers, and the killing of police trainees in Hangu is perceived as a warning and corresponds to the Iraq and Afghan experience.

It is not without reason, therefore, that Musharraf in his meeting with select editors in Rawalpindi on Wednesday, appealed to politico-military moderates in Pakistan to come together to thwart the challenge that religious extremism poses to the country. An army chief in Pakistan, appealing to the moderate faction within the ‘fauj’, is of grave import. Events in the coming few weeks will tell whether this cleavage within the ranks over what status to accord to the jihadis is closing or being further widened. Here the role of the ex-servicemen who inhabit the troubled NWFP and Pak-Afghan border, will be critical to the military initiatives that Musharraf is embarking upon.

... contd.