Pakistan's President Faces Political Pressures

I S L A M A B A D, Pakistan, Jan. 2 -- Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, is — once again — in a tight spot.

The same man who, in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, succumbed to U.S. pressure and made a U-turn on his support of the Taliban, is now facing another wrenching shift.

He's under massive pressure from both the United States and his arch-enemy India to crack down on fundamentalist groups that have, for years, used Pakistan as a base for launching attacks on Indian rule in the disputed province of Kashmir. This in the wake of the Dec. 13 suicide raid on the Indian parliament which killed 14 people, including the five gunmen.

India blames two Pakistani-based militant groups. It has demanded that Pakistan arrest and hand over the group's leaders. The crisis has sparked the largest military buildup on the border dividing the two nations in years (depending on who you ask, it's the biggest in 15 or 30 years).

Stuck in Tight Spot

The task in front of Musharraf is difficult for reasons that range from the personal to the political.

First, Musharraf must — again — ask his army and military intelligence service to turn on a dime. Government officials deny it, but most observers believe the Pakistani military has for years supported Islamic militant groups in their jihad against Indian rule in Kashmir. The apparent strategy was to make ruling Kashmir so painful and expensive that the Indians would simply give up.

Now, Musharraf is asking his army — the same army that has twice gone to war with India over Kashmir — to make a radical tactical change.

Second, Musharraf has to walk a political tightrope. Kashmir is an issue that incites nationalist passions in many parts of this country. It is a Muslim-majority province ruled largely by Hindu-majority India, and many here have deep sympathies for Kashmiris.

Third, Musharraf has had to make an internal shift. This is the general who, in 1999, led the Pakistani operation against Indian forces in Kashmir (an operation that ultimately failed). It's the same general who once said, "there are no other issues. There is just one issue: Kashmir."