Pakistan's antiterror strategy scrutinized

Concerns about rising militancy were reinforced on Saturday, when a suicide bomber killed 15 people in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan Province, 120 miles from Kandahar, an Afghan province and a Taliban bastion. It was the deadliest of 10 recent bombings in several cities in the past month. Police are still investigating, but fear the blasts showcase the expanded reach of militant groups working in coordination.

Against the backdrop of violence, Islamabad's failed deal, critics say, evinces the kind of blunt, ill-conceived decisions that military regimes often make.

"Military regimes don't have nuances. It's not in the military's training," says Samina Ahmed, South Asia project director at the International Crisis Group. Scores of serving and retired generals staff key government positions, and Musharraf, despite promises to retire his uniform, continues to serve as the head of government, observers point out.

This expanding militarism has shrunk the space for civilian political actors, making it impossible for communities and local governments to have input in national decisions.

"Although Musharraf projects himself as the only thing standing between him and extremists, he is part of the problem," says Mr. Rais. "Musharraf has demonized political parties. He has strangled political options."

As a result, Rais and others say, extremism has extended into new areas, becoming a kind of political expression in its own right for some.

"Terrorism is a statement. It has become part of the political process," says Rais.

It is a characterization that Pakistan denies. "If the militants have grown in strength, it is because of the problems in Afghanistan," says General Sultan.

But while the military projects itself as the best way to root out the Taliban and Al Qaeda, some fear they are keeping those forces in their pocket as continued leverage over Afghanistan, particularly in the event that international forces cut back their presence.

There is also the concern that, so long as the Army is in control, Pakistan will continue to see militants as an extension of state policy, as it has in the past, critics claim. For years Pakistan's military cultivated the Taliban as a tool for power leverage inside Afghanistan, as it did militants in Kashmir, a Himalayan territory to which both Pakistan and India lay claim.

"[Civilian government] is better from the point of view that it relates to the masses. It takes the people along with them," says Talat Masood, a retired lieutenant general and now political analyst in Islamabad. "A military regime doesn't represent the people. It operates in a vacuum."

Pakistan's upcoming presidential elections, tentatively scheduled for September, offer a unique opportunity for a turnaround, observers argue.

In the meantime, antidotes rest in trying to integrate the virtually autonomous tribal zone. "Extend the writ of the state through courts and law enforcements. You have military bases nearby. Why don't you arrest people? That sends a far better signal than [bombings]," says Ms. Ahmed.

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