bad enough. The worst was when the students began kidnapping policemen to prove that their writ ran whenever they wanted to prove it. When the students whisked away the six Chinese, they went too far. No doubt, they were released, but the government lost face because the Chinese government behaved as if it did not have enough confidence in the authority of the Musharraf government.

The students did not sit still, and

religious parties rule there with the help of the Musharraf-blessed Muslim League (Qaid).

This also proves that the religious parties are opposed to what the Lal Masjid crowd, including burqa-clad women, has been doing. It is difficult to imagine what kind of pressures would be brought on the religious parties to part company with Musarraf. But the Lal Masjid incident has infuriated the radicals to do their best to wean away the MMA

retaining his uniform, may not want to demolish the bridges with him in case he turns towards them, if and when his efforts for rapprochement with Benazir Bhutto fail.

Musharrafs confrontation at Lal Masjid definitely suits the PPP, because the spread of radicalism affects the democratic temper. Benazir Bhutto has been warning repeatedly that only the return of democracy - through free and fair elections - could stop fundamen-

reprimanded Musharraf for failing to rein in the militants. The CIA is said to have told Islamabad that the Lal Masjid crowd was being guided by the Al-Qaida, and that the Taliban-like students constituted the bulk of radicals. After giving an extra $750 million, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said that "the development of Pakistan" was what they had in view, and it was spelled out as the defeat of

ISLAMABAD is a broad city, with wide roads and deep runs of thick trees and green grass. Houses are expansive, neatly tucked into self-sufficient sectors with markets, eating places and a mosque. General Mohammad Ayub Khan who founded the city had a neighbourhood concept, with people from different provinces and thoughts living as a community.

Lal Masjid, where radical Islamic students and the government forces clashed on Tuesday, is one of the mosques, not far from the diplomatic enclave, the president's house, the National Assembly and the Supreme Court.

The mosque has become more of a seminary (Jamia Hafsa) than a place for praying. Nobody expected that the students studying there would one day copy the Taliban, demanding the Sharia, the imposition of Islamic laws in Pakistan.

The posture of students, increasingly militant over the last few months, would not have brought the security forces to confront them if the Lal Masjid-cum-seminary had not become a state within the state.

The slogans of jihad against the General Pervez Musharraf government, and the threats of the use of the suicide squads of Fidayen were

some 100 of them attacked the adjoining government building and a security picket. This was the official version. When the confrontation converts into a clash, it is difficult to say who fired the first shot. The curfew in the area has quietened things at the time of writing. Except for stray incidents at Abbotabad and a couple of other places, the clash at Lal Masjid had no visible effect.

I feared a strong reaction by the religious parties or its conglomeration of MMA. Apparently, President Musharraf had discussed the matter with them before taking action. Otherwise, the state governments in Baluchistan and the NWFP would not have been intact, since the

from the Muslim League (Qaid).

The religious parties may themselves be facing a dilemma. They realise that Pakistan's general public want a liberal, democratic Muslim state, while the Lal Masjid crowd wants to impose bigotry and a system which people are not ready to adopt. In fact, even religious parties have little support with the public. But for Musharraf's help in the last election, the religious parties would not have secured as many seats as they did.

His strategy was to stall as many members of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the then Muslim League from entering the National Assembly. The religious parties, which supported Musharraf in

talism taking roots in Pakistan. My impression is that once Musharraf contains the Lal Masjid crowd and its sympathisers, he might go for an election with Benazir Bhutto if possible, or without her if necessary.

He has realised that the genie of religious chauvinism he had released to fight progressive and democratic forces was not going to go back into the bottle, and is turning its attention on him. Probably, he saw the ground reality when there was a fatal attack on him last year.

America may have applied too much pressure. US vice-president Dick Cheney, during his visit to Pakistan in March, reportedly

Talibanisation.

Islamabad itself has been worried over a report which was presented to its National Security Council. The report, running into 15 pages, has said that the Taliban have reorganised themselves and their influence was spilling over to the areas other than those bordering Afghanistan, to the detriment of the security forces' morale. The report may have been the last straw.

It looks as if Musharraf had no option except to act when the Talibanisation was taking place under his nose, in the Lal Masjid at Islamabad.

The military action is all right as far as it goes. With the sullen mid-

die class, following the lawyers' courageous agitation, and with the alienated political parties, Musharraf cannot fight the Taliban or their type. This has to be done by people who can be harnessed by political parties through a democratic set-up. Weapons do not represent democracy, the public response does.

In fact, the Lal Masjid crowd would not have gained the importance - and the strength - if Pakistan had a democratic structure.

Yet, democracy does not come by holding free and fair elections alone. The institutions have to be strengthened so that they can assert themselves. For example, the manner in which Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary has been dismissed shows that the president's fiat rules, not the law.

Former chief justice of Sind High Court, Wajiuddin Ahmed, has aptly said: "If the full court restores the Chief Justice, it would be a salutary step in the direction of an independent judiciary. If that comes about, it is a bitter pill that those in power have to swallow. A bitter pill because they are not used to dealing with an independent judiciary. They will need to make changes in order to be able to live with it, and they will have to live it."

Unless democracy is restored in Pakistan to full length --Washington should note it - religious militancy cannot be fought. Today, there is one Lal Masjid, tomorrow there will be many more. Only democratic credentials can retrieve Pakistan.

Kuldip Nayar is an eminent Indian columnist.