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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s embattled President Pervez
Musharraf Friday convened a crisis meeting over an upsurge in
Islamist violence as another suicide attack killed at least four
people near the Afghan border.
The latest blast in a week of
violence that has claimed more than 200 lives came as the United
States ramped up pressure on Musharraf to hunt down al-Qaeda and
Taliban militants—and threatened to go it alone if he fails to do
so.
Musharraf, under pressure from
all sides, also faced a court decision key to his political future,
with a panel due to rule on his battle against the chief judge he
ousted in March, who has since become a prodemocracy icon.
The latest suicide attack hit the
tribal area of North Waziristan, as government officials and Pashtun
elders met in a secret location to salvage a ceasefire accord that
pro-Taliban militants there scrapped this week.
“A suicide attack on a
paramilitary checkpost in North Waziristan killed four
people—three civilians and one soldier,” chief military
spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP. A gunbattle broke
out after the blast.
Musharraf has vowed to hunt down
al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters allegedly hiding in Pakistan’s
rugged areas on the Afghan frontier, according to the United States
and NATO forces in war-torn Afghanistan.
The military ruler—who sparked
Islamist rage by ordering troops to storm a pro-Taliban mosque in
Islamabad last week—gathered key officials for an emergency
meeting, focused on restoring order in the battle-torn northwest.
The meeting came after the White
House ramped up the pressure on its key ally.
Asked on Thursday whether US
President George W. Bush had ruled out US military action inside
Pakistan, his spokesman Tony Snow replied: “We never rule out any
options, including striking actionable targets.”
When reporters asked if Bush
would first seek authorization from Musharraf, Snow told them:
“Those are matters that are best not discussed publicly.”
Hardline mullahs were set to call
on Friday, the Islamic day of prayer, for Musharraf’s downfall a
week after protesters enraged by the raid that killed 75 inside the
Red Mosque burnt his effigy and torched an Uncle Sam puppet.
Political leaders and tribal
elders were meeting in North Waziristan, one of Pakistan’s seven
semi-autonomous tribal agencies, in a bid to salvage a peace accord
that militants tore up last week, protesting renewed troop
movements.
But even as the 60 senators and
tribal leaders met in a secret location, rebels launched the latest
suicide attack, while in the main town of Miranshah hardliners burnt
down seven music shops they deemed un-Islamic.
--AFP
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