Pervez Musharraf - You've got to love him (at least a little bit)

Sorry for not posting too much these days, but am running around town here in Islamabad, trying to get into the Red Mosque. To no avail unfortunately. The mosque is still a no-go zone. The army is cleaning up the place, said a top military spokesman today during a press conference. According to the army, they have to clear the place of unexploded grenades and other weaponry. I think they have to clear the place of bodies. Because it is pretty obvious to me that many more people died than the government figures of 60 or so militants.

But since nothing is clear on the numbers of deaths, let me say something about president Musharraf, the leader of Pakistan who, by many here, is being criticised for operation "Silence" (The storming of the Red Mosque)

"Musharraf bashing" seems a national sport here in Pakistan.

The intellectuals hate him, because he cancelled 'democracy'. The PPP and PML diehards despise him, because he kicked their party leaders out of the country. The secularists don't like him because he works with the Islamists. The Islamists hate him because he is a secularist and a puppet of the White House.

So that leaves me, a Dutchman in Islamabad, about the only one - among 150 million Pakistanis - who kind of likes the president.

I'll explain why.

The sheer fact that 'Musharraf-bashing' is so popular here, is one of the main reasons. I mean, president Musharraf is - officially - a dictator. The general took power in 1999 during a bloodless coup. Since then he has never allowed real free and fair elections. A bad man, you would think. That is, until you see and hear the 'Musharraf bashing' in the papers, on TV, in the streets. Where do you find a dictatorship where it is entirely ok to criticize the dictator?

I've recently visited many press conferences here and spoke to many Pakistani journalists. My god - it is fantastic how they yell at ministers, ask very annoying questions to highly ranked military men and are day and night critical of every thing that is mildly connected to the government. God, I wish journalists in my country, The Netherlands, where so critical of the state.

But not only deserve Pakistan's journalists a medal for bravery, but president Musharraf too.

A medal for the journalists for being critical (although sometimes very much into the conspiracy mood) and president Musharraf for allowing this never ending stream of criticism, which is often very unfair and personal.

Because at the end of the day, president Musharraf is a dictator. He has the power to kill you or me without being punished. But where many dictators indeed kill you, me and hundreds of thousands others, president Musharraf holds back. This truly is a remarkable part of Pervez Musharraf's personality.

It is easy for anybody to criticize Musharraf because those people are not in the position to kill millions and grab billions. But lets be fair: Most people who are in a situation to kill or steal, do it. Saddam Hussein, Pinochet, Marcos, good old Idi Amin. Well, we could go on for hours. By the by, I would rather spend a holiday with dictator Musharraf than with that 'democratically elected' little man from Iran or President Silly from the United States.

During Musharraf's regime, the press became more free, the government is less corrupt, the economy is improving, the Pakistani army performed an excellent job during last years earthquake, relations with India improved and Pakistan hunted more asshole Jehadis down than any other player in the War against Terror. And, not very important, but quite significantly: President Musharraf even legalized love-marriage. Because until around 2003 it was ILLEGAL in Pakistan to marry somebody out of love, ONLY arranged marriages - organized by family members - were allowed. Basically, you could be jailed or killed if you would marry somebody because you actually loved that person. Pakistan's democratic governments never dared to change this truly medieval law.

There are some down sides. Yes, Osama Bin Laden might still be hiding in Pakistan's tribal regions. Yes, president Musharraf might sometimes cooperate with Islamists. Yes, he might sometimes be an autocratic guy who, for instance, fires the chief judge of the country.

But do not forget that the ultra reactionary Islamists here tried to kill him already four times. The latest attempts happened last Saturday. Considering this, I might actually rather join president Shorty and president Silly on their holidays, because I think their lives are less under threat than president Musharraf's.

You might now say: If Musharraf is such a nice guy who can stand criticism like no other, why did his army stormed the Red Mosque to flush out Jehadi militants and a bunch of indoctrinated women and kids?

First - I am not a religious person. But to quote the bible: "You live by the sword, you die by the sword." What the hell were all these guns doing in the Red Mosque? And if your philosophy is almost entirely based on the nobleness of reaching martyrdom (getting killed defending your faith) - well, then don't complain if you get killed defending your faith.

Second - Some of these "Waco, Texas-style"-kind groups here are totally out of control. Of course, they call themselves madrassa's (religious schools), or Jehadi's, but they aren't. THEY ARE DOOMSDAY CULTS. Comparable, for instance, to the Branch Davidians of David Koresh in Waco, Texas.

The Red Mosque members would run around with weapons, indoctrinate kids as young as four with hatred, glorify militarism, fanaticism and terrorism, beat up or kidnap people who aren't "good Muslims". And something else, which hardly ever gets talked about: How high do you think is the percentage of rape of little boys by their religious teachers? Honestly, sexual abuse of young boys is at many madrassas a standard thing.

For president Musharraf not to use force against a group like this - especially since they were located around two kilometers from his own presidential building - would be madness from the site of the state.

Third - It is not that the Pakistan Army immediately attacked the place. The leadership of the Red Mosque had a week to surrender. Around 1000 students (males, women and kids) were allowed to leave during the first couple of days. Some were arrested. But most of the students received 5000 rupees from the government and a free trip home.

Fourth - By storming the Red Mosque, Pakistani president Musharraf has made a clear point to all those whose goal it is to destroy Pakistan as a country or turn Islam into an endless amount of little, violent doomsday cults. Many Jehadis (actually many Pakistanis in general) think you can get away with everything here. Cheating, kidnapping, killing, running around with guns, drugs, fucking around with kids and women. The state is weak, many people think and wish. Well, no more.

Pakistan's president has drawn a line in the sand. The immediate result might have been rather bloody. But in the long run, the fact that the state has shown its teeth against the religious and reactionary ultra-right might save an awful amount of innocent lives here.

Harald Doornbos

Red Mosque attack is ongoing, plus little video

Here a couple of seconds of video I shot this morning. Pak army holds us at a 400 meters distance from the Red Mosque, so we cant see what's happening around the mosque. Only thing is to use your ears. So the clip is nothing spectacular, but it is at at least something:



Here the rest of the story I wrote earliers this morning:

I Just came back from the vicinity of the Red Mosque or Lal Mashid. Fighting still going on. Hear a lot of explosions - probably hand grenades used by the Pak army to flush out the last militants from the basements. Also sporadic machine gun fire.

Media is not allowed entrance to the mosque. So we are kind of camping 400 meters away. As I know a little path through gardens in the area, I managed to get at 150 meters. Lots of nearby gunfire. Almost tripped over some army telephone wires. Was caught a little later by some Pak soldiers who told me to leave the area.

Anyhow. Am rather busy now. Not a lot of time. The operation will probably last another couple of hours. It is really in its final stage. Some women en children were transferred from inside the mosque to a sports stadium by the Pak authorities. Deathtoll stands currently at 40 militans dead, three SSG troops (Pak special forces) and five soldiers. These numbers are not final of course. The operation by the way is called "Operation Silence".

Must run now. Later more.

Harald Doornbos

I bow my head in shame....

Yesterday evening I wrote that the attack on the Red Mosque would happen any moment. Around 04.00 AM, Monday morning (see posting below)...

Well, I bow my head in shame. I've been all night close to the Red Mosque, but absolutely nothing happened! I was totally wrong!

Some shooting until 02.00 AM. But after that...total silence. The most peaceful place on earth. No offensive, not even a small one - absolutely nothing. Thank you very little.

Of course great for the people in the mosque, the soldiers and the residents of the area. But who thinks off me? I've been sleeping, first, on a chair, under a tree. Later I moved to the floor of some kind of Pakistani wedding tent, set up by the authorities for the press.

Anyhow. Around 10.00 am, this morning, shooting started again. Not much, but a little. Amazingly, the Pakistani authorities served a delicious breakfast in the wedding tent, around 300 meters away from the Red Mosque, or Lal Mashid. Absolutely fantastic. Even coffee was provided for (Remember Pakistan is very much a tea country, coffee is kind of hard to find).

As actor Robert Duvall would have said: "I love the smell of Nescafe in the morning". But this was more Apocalypse Not, than Now.

Here are some conclusions of an sweaty and mosquito-all-around night:

1. Never predict anything - wait till it happens (or not)

2. Predict only in case the guy in charge tells you.

3. The Pakistani army is, without any doubt, a great army. These guys are just nice. The soldiers are friendly, polite and an always in for some jokes. The officers extremely well educated, and very knowledgeable. Even without anything happening, these guys make it worth to hang around.

4. If you really want to know when the standoff around the Red Mosque will come to an end - surf for an other website.

5. No showdown, no offensive, and boredom in general, result in dreadful, but very artistic, pictures of birds, birds and birds...(all taken from my spot, close to the mosque). See the amazingly exiting results below!

Harald Doornbos

The attack on the Red Mosque is gonna happen tonight!

Well, you never know of course. But tonight will be D-Day for Islamabad. I'm not gonna sleep, but hang out close the Red Mosque. All my batteries of phones and camera's are full. Just ordered enough soft drinks and cigarettes to survive the night.

Because all signs are there that Pakistani troops tonight will attack Islamic militants inside the Red Mosque (Lal Masjid). To be clear: That is the night from Sunday to Monday, Pakistani time. I expect the Army operation to start around Monday, 04.00 AM.

A couple of hours ago, Islamic fundamentalists, killed three Chinese workers in Peshawar. The killers shouted Islamic slogans during the killing of the Chinese nationals.

This - and the killing around the mosque last night of a major-colonel of Pakistan's SSG - makes it intolerable for president Musharraf to continue the standoff in Islamabad. SSG is by the way the Pakistani equivalent of the British SAS.

Instead of killing or harassing their usual targets (Americans), Islamic militants have recently started killing and kidnapping Chinese workers here. Not because they don't like chicken-sweet-and-sour, but because China is THE ally of president Musharraf.

While the US-Pakistan friendship is very much a marriage of interest without much love between the two, the Pakistan-China relation is very much a love marriage.

Almost all consumer goods here in Pakistan come from China. The country is majorly investing in Pakistan. China helps fixing a mountain road connecting both countries (Karakoram Highway). China and Pakistan developed weapons together (One of the most recent ones is the development of the JF-17 Thunder jet fighter). And Last but not least - China was a major help in developing Pakistan's nuclear bomb.

Over the last half year, the Red Mosque and their aggressive pro-Taliban style actions in Islamabad has been an annoying development. But it wasn't more than annoying.

This all changed when the Red Mosque radicals started to kidnap Chinese women and men, who were accused by the Red Mosque vigilantes as prostitutes and pimps.

The Chinese government labelled the situation in Pakistan for its nationals so dangerous, that, on June 27th 2007, the Chinese government urgently asked the Pakistani authorities to guarantee the safety of its nationals. This Chinese request is highly unusual. And among friends, highly embarrassing for president Musharraf.

Since June 27th it all has been different. Five days later Red Mosque militants and Pakistani police, Rangers and Army men clashed close to the mosque. 20 people died. Immediately, the army laid siege to the mosque. 1200 people surrendered last Wednesday, but around 1000 stayed inside.

I shortly spoke today to Pakistani Religious Affairs Minister, Mohammad Ejaz ul-Haq (You might remember, he is the son of former Pakistani president Zia ul-Haq). He told me that a rather small group (70 - 80 men) inside the Red Mosque are die-hard Jihadis. "These people are definitely the worst terrorist imaginably," he said, "They are worst people than Taliban and Al Qaeda combined."

Mr Ul-Haq told me also that "The people who tried to kill [Pakistani] Prime Minister Aziz are inside the mosque." Pakistani PM Shaukat Aziz was targeted in July 2004 by a suicide bomber who blew himself up next to Mr. Aziz car. Five bystanders died.

So it is serious. Luckily I today received my special "curfew pass" - which means that the army will allow you to hang out relatively close to the mosque, even when it is curfew.

It's now or never. Anyway - I'm off to the Red Mosque area. Good night to all and good morning Pakistan....

At the other hand - I've been many times wrong in my predictions. So maybe the stand-off will just continue, leaving me a tired and bored Dutchman.

Harald Doornbos

Tough president, angry family members outside the Red Mosque

Here in Islamabad, these are times of life or death. Of individual or collective rights. Of religion in your heart or in every cell of your body. Of God as a brother or God as an abusive father. Eventually - this is the struggle within Islam.

But let's start with tough words from Pakistan's president Pervez Musharraf to the around 1200 pro-Taliban people who are still holding out in the besieged Red Mosque, Lal Masjid, in Pakistan's capital Islamabad.

"If you do not surrender, you will be killed," Musharraf just told Pakistani television.

I've spend most parts of the day around the Red Mosque. It is getting pretty difficult to get close to it. The army has basically sealed off the whole G6 sector of town (2 km by 2 km). Yesterday I managed to sneak in and got to 200 meters of the mosque. Today no such luck. Everything very much blocked. Some large explosions and a lot of firing from within the area.

Outside Islamabad's no-go zone, I met a large group of people, who all have family members inside the mosque. Brothers, sisters, cousins. Most of their beloved one's are between 14 and 25 years old.

"They are ready to give their life for Islam," one man, Baber Khan, told me, speaking about his 14 year old cousin Amjad Mahmoud.

I asked him if Amjad could decide if he was ready to die. I mean, you need to be eighteen to drive a car here. To make such a rather important life-or-death decision is kind of heavy on a 14 year old kid. But Baber Khan's answer was rather clear: "That 14 year old children want to die - that is the power of Islam."

All of the waiting family members are, not surprisingly, very angry at the government. According to most of them President Musharraf is "just cracking down on the mosque because [US president] Bush wants it". I am not very sure US president Bush has ever heard of the Lal Masjid. Pronouncing it ("Lal what???) could be a problem too.

This is very much an internal Pakistani problem. Because let's not forget that the 'students' in (which means in Arabic and Urdu: Talib or Taliban) in the Red Mosque are extremely militant. Over the last couple of months they have violently tried to 'cleanse' Islamabad from all 'non-Islamic things'. They have attacked music stores, barbers. They kidnapped some Chinese girls who, according to the Red Mosque, were working in Islamabad as prostitutes.

(The funny thing is that the three costumers who were caught together with the Chinese girls were all members of the MMA - the radical right wing, pro-taliban religious block in parliament. According to the embarrassed MMA-members they were "just visiting the Chinese girls to get a knee massage because of pain in their legs".)

Recently Lal Masjid students kidnapped police officers and five days ago they killed a Pakistani soldier, a journalist and destroyed several government offices.

Not to do anything against the Red Mosque - in the middle of Islamabad, only one kilometer away from Musharraf's presidential palace - would simply be unsustainable.

Anyhow. A peaceful end to the standoff seems every hour less likely. Maybe presidents Musharraf's harsh words were bluff, part of a policy of the authorities to build up the pressure on the militants inside the mosque. And most Pakistanis aren't that impressed with the suffering inside the Red Mosque of the militants. The general mood in the country is verymuch: "Finish off the militants - they asked for it."

The family members I spoke to expect the worst. "My two brothers are inside," 17-year old Nasser told me. "This morning I spoke to my two brothers via a mobile phone," he continued, "They are only 13 and 14. They don't know what to do. But yesterday they got wounded. They were shot by the army while trying to find some water around the mosque."

But the worst is, at the same time, the best. "There is honour in death," Baber Khan, the man whose cousin is inside, "They will never surrender, never try to escape. They will defend the Red Mosque until the end."

Then we all heard the deep sound of a column of tanks approaching. I looked up and five tanks drove past us. 500 meters later, they made a turn, into the direction of the Red Mosque. More soldiers appeared. I heard shots being fired. Sand sacks. Barbed wire. Machine guns. Soldiers running.

About the pictures in this story:

Top: President Musharraf

Above: Baber Khan, with grey dress, and others waiting outside the no-go zone.

Middle: Red Mosque female militants, a couple of months ago, while attacking so called 'non Islamic institutions'. (not my pic, took it off the wire)

Middle: A stressed boy waiting for his family members who are still inside the mosque.

Below: Family members of the students watch as a column of tanks passes us.

Harald Doornbos

STAND-OFF AT THE RED MOSQUE, LAL MASJID

Here are some pics I made on Friday in the direct surrounding of the Red Mosque. First one is a Pakistani soldier, standing between gardens of houses of civilians, with the Red Mosque in the back. Second a civilian who - of all places - was hit in his large toe by bullets coming from the mosque. Third - group of Pakistani rangers take a rest close to the mosque.

At the moment there is heavy fighting going on around the mosque. Civilians living in the direct surrounding of the mosque (to make it clear: these people have nothing to do with the mosque, they just live nearby) are now leaving - scared for the final battle. Last half hour, security forces fired at least 11 grenades at the outer boundary of the mosque. Some rangers and soldiers are moving in. This might be the beginning of the large attack.

That said - how many times was the final battle predicted in the Nahr al Bared Palestinian camp in Lebanon? That mini war is already dragging on now for around 6 1/2 weeks. But to be realistic: This is not gonna happen here.

The Pak army is fully in control. The only thing that holds the army back is the fact that the militants are holding hundreds of children en women inside - many of them against their will. Some children are only five years old. To make it clear again - these kids were not 'innocently' dragged from the streets or so. These kids were brought to the mosque by their parents - either to get religious education or to be willingly used by the militants as human shields. Many parents - actually many Pakistanis - never believed that the Pakistani government of President Musharraf would ever start a military crackdown against the mosque.

But Musharraf - who was nearly shot from the skies by unknown attackers on Friday -seems to be pretty serious in destroying all these Taliban elements in the Red Mosque.

The question though is why now - Does Musharraf really wants to stop the talibanisation of Pakistani society, or is he 'just' using this issue to gain some credit among ordinary Pakistanis, who are very proud off their army. Secondly, the Red Mosque-issue has pushed all other topics in Pakistan to the background. No more talks about the controversy of the fired high court judge (who is very much anti-Musharraf) who was fired and is, most probably, to be re-installed - something which would be of course highly embarrassing to president Musharraf.

Harald Doornbos

In Islamabad now

Great, I made it to Islamabad. Arrived here around 8 am, so had enough time today to roam around the G6 sector of the city, where the Pakistani Army is surrounding around 1000 militants (and a whole lot of children en women) in the Lal mashid, or Red Mosque. The area is entirely sealed off by the Army. No way to get unseen in or out of the mosque. Basically an area of 1.5 km by 1.5 km is made off limits by the Pak army. I did not see anybody surrendering, but at one point a civilian came out - he was shot in his toe. I mean, the Red mosque is located in the middle of a residential area. So outside the mosque there's a strange mix of soldiers, para-military forces and civilians who live there and can't leave. These civilians basically stay indoors. Between 12.30 and 15.30 there was a temporary relaxation of the curfew in the G6 area. This to give residents the possibility to buy some food and perform jumma prayer - the Friday prayer, which is the most important prayer of the whole week. I heard a couple of shots fired. Sometimes pretty close by. But the fighting was definitely not heavy on Friday, more very sporadic. Most people I talked to support the government and the army. Many civilians told me that they are sick and tired of the Taliban-style mullahs. The fact that one of the leaders of the Red mosque tried to escape in a burqa, so dressed up as a woman - doesn't help the militants inside to get more public support. Everybody was very much laughing about, what they now call, Mullah Burqa. "If he would have fought till the end - maybe some people would respect him," a man told me, "But now? Trying to escape, while all the others are inside. And dressed up as a woman. Very embarrassing."

More later, and pics too.

On My Way To Pakistan...

Am currently on my way to Islamabad, Pakistan to cover the siege of the Lal Mashid, the Red Mosque. So basically another Nahr al Bared - this time though in the middle of a capital. Will be interesting to see what is going to happen there. Will Musharraf stop the 'Talibanisation' of the country or will the pro-Taliban militants eventually be the victors? Expect first report from Islamabad, Friday afternoon.

That of course, if I get there. I've got a ticket Beirut-Dubai. But at the moment it is kind of impossible to get a seat on a flight from Dubai to Pakistan. Anyway...while you guys are all asleep, this guy will be camping in front of some airline office - begging for a ticket to Islamabad.