Our "Moderate" Muslim Ally Places Opposition Leader Under House Arrest

Pervez Musharraf, our "moderate" Muslim ally, has confined opposition leader Benazir Bhutto to her home in Islamabad. How much easier could Musharraf make it for Islamic radicals to target her than to isolate her to one known location? I fear Bhutto will not survive until the February elections. Musharraf is as radical as they come, only he is uses the weapon of Taqiyya to fight his Jihad against Western democracy. A wolf in sheep's clothing.

Pakistani police placed opposition leader Benazir Bhutto under house arrest Friday, uncoiling barbed wire in front of her Islamabad home and reportedly rounding up 5,000 of her supporters to block a mass protest against emergency rule.

Bhutto tried twice to leave by car but was blocked by police after a scuffle with her supporters who tried to remove a barricade. The former prime minister had planned to address a rally in nearby Rawalpindi, defying a ban on public gatherings.

Associated Press

UPDATE: The house arrest order has been lifted:

Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has been released from house arrest in the capital, Islamabad, officials say.

The order had blocked Ms Bhutto's bid to lead a rally against the emergency rule declared by President Musharraf.

The United States had criticised the house arrest, saying that she had to be "permitted freedom of movement".

http://news.bbc.co.uk

A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing

An effort to suppress IslamoFascists or Democracy? America would be wise to choose its allies more carefully. Musharraf is an ally only as long as the United States keeps him in power. As new elections loom and his candidacy is threatened, his true colours are showing.

Police swung batons and fired tear gas at supporters of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto demonstrating near Pakistan's parliament Wednesday, deepening a political crisis triggered by the imposition of military rule.

Associated Press reporters saw hundreds of protesters pushing metal barricades into ranks of riot police blocking their path. Police beat several activists who broke through, and dragged at least three away from the scene.

State television said the parliament had endorsed President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's state of emergency declaration.

The demonstrators pulled back after several rounds of tear gas were fired toward them.

Bhutto had called on supporters to defy a ban on protesting the imposition of emergency rule, even as the government threatened to crush her demonstrations.

She also said more than 400 members of her Pakistan People's Party have been arrested.

Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 coup, suspended the constitution after declaring the state of emergency Saturday. He has since ousted independent-minded judges, put a stranglehold on the media and granted sweeping powers to authorities to crush dissent. Thousands of people have been rounded up and thrown in jail since then.

Associated Press

Religion of Peace Used A Child To Kill

Benazir Bhutto is accusing Islamic militants of using a child in last month's assassination attempt. Why does this not surprise me?

"They (terrorists) were trying to hoist the child -- dressed in the colours of my party's flag -- onto my truck," Bhutto said, adding failing to do so they dropped the child near her vehicle.

"Some witnesses said the child had been rigged as a human bomb. I can't be sure. What followed was a massive explosion, killing scores immediately, tearing many bodies in half and sending blood, gore and flames up into the vehicle," she said.

"In less than a minute a second bomb -- reports later suggested a car bomb -- went off," she wrote.

Bhutto survived unhurt when the blasts killing nearly 140 people took place near her armoured truck in a huge procession she led in Karachi after setting foot on Pakistani soil on October 18 for the first time in eight years.

OutlookIndia.com