Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is riding high after cracking down on a radical mosque, with liberals who usually loathe him welcoming the move and no sign of an expected Islamist backlash.

The Red Mosque's attempts to enforce a Taliban-style mini-state in the heart of the leafy capital Islamabad had caused growing anger among residents, and prompted fears that extremism was spreading nationwide.

The humiliating capture this week of the firebrand mosque leader as he tried to flee the compound wearing a woman's burqa has demoralised some hardliners.

Although Abdul Aziz has been arrested and now faces criminal

charges, his brother, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, however has refused to surrender, saying he would prefer to be martyred.

"There is no concept of surrender in jihad (holy war). Aziz has embarrassed all jihadis," a senior member of an outlawed Islamic militant outfit told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Musharraf could now capitalise on his boost in support to try to ride out a separate crisis over his suspension of the nation's chief justice, and to press ahead with his fight against Islamic militants, analysts said.

"It's a win-win situation for Musharraf," Najam Sethi, editor of the English-language Daily Times newspaper, told AFP.

"Musharraf can use this success

against Islamic extremists and the Taliban in the tribal areas" bordering Afghanistan, Sethi said.

In Islamabad - where the mosque's followers had shut down entertainment stores and burned "un-lslamic" CDs in the streets -music shop owner Mohammad Atif said Musharraf had shown Pakistan was "not a banana republic".

The mood was vastly changed from just days ago when nationwide protests over Musharraf's ouster of top judge Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry entered a fourth straight month.

Sheikh Aftab, who runs a general store in the capital, said this week's operation had dispelled rumours that Musharraf was secretly in league with the mosque and using it to provide a distraction from the judicial crisis.

Musharraf has been accused by neighbouring Afghanistan of using his intelligence services to support Taliban militants there.

"Now at least that impression has been dismissed - and also the impression that these undamentalists are invincible because they have the backing of the state and are ideologically motivated,"Aftab said.

Supporters of Pakistan's Islamic parties have staged demonstrations in several cities over the mosque siege but they were small compared to previous demonstrations on other issues.

Party sources said the lack of anger was because the Red Mosque was too extreme for them.

"These brothers did not follow the advice of senior clerics. Both major madrassa (Islamic schools) organisations appealed to them and played a role as mediators, but they ignored them," said one Islamic party official on condition of anonymity.

There was, however, anger over an interview with Aziz broadcast on state television on Wednesday, in which the captured cleric was forced to wear the burqa that he used to try to flee.

Parliamentary opposition leader and pro-Taliban hardliner Maulana Fazlur Rehman said in a telephone call to the channel: "You have shown no respect to humanity by interviewing him in a burqa."

Former Pakistani intelligence chief Hamid Gul, now a campaigning fundamentalist, warned Musharraf not to use the tactics he employed at the mosque with hardened militants in the tribal areas.