The Red Mosque ghost continues to roam the streets of Pakistan, leaving a trail of blood behind him. After having tried to reoccupy and repaint in red the former Lal Masjid in Islamabad last Friday, an act resulting in violent clashes and a suicide bombing costing the lives of 14 people, today the integralist Pakistani militants have occupied a mosque in the tribal area of Mohmad on the Afghan border, renaming it 'the Red Mosque'. Meanwhile in North Waziristan, four civilians died in army and militant crossfire, three soldiers died during an ambush and a military base was attacked with rocket launchers.

Three hundred dead in twenty days. The total casualties from the attacks and armed clashes following on from the Islamabad Red Mosque saga now add up to more than 300, and thousands of people are wounded. Pakistan is entering a civil war between integralist pro-Taliban forces, which are becoming increasingly out of control, and Musharraf's pro-western military regime, which instead seems to be in ever-increasing difficulty.

It’s a situation which arouses serious concerns in Washington, which fears the collapse of its most strategic ally in the global war on terror.

After proposing direct military intervention supported by the Pakistani government, a notion refused by Islamabad, the US and their allies are now trying to strengthen Musharraf, at least from a political standpoint.

Musharraf and Bhutto meet in Abu Dhabi. "Negotiations in London and Washington are attempting to ensure the political survival of Musharraf by reinforcing his ever more fragile regime with the support of former Minister Benazir Bhutto", journalist and Pakistani writer Ahmed Rashid explains to PeaceReporter.
Bhutto, twice President between 1988 and 1996 before the Musharraf coup, and current leader of the main opposition party (Pakistan People's Party - PPP), lives in exile in the United Arab Emirates. It was in Abu Dhabi that she awaited the secret meeting with her historic arch-enemy Musharraf last Friday, to discuss a possible agreement which would allow the General to stay in power for another five-year term, on the conditions that he would step down from his position as head of the armed forces, and that the former President could return to Pakistan exonerated from her corruption charges and thus with the possibility of running in the Autumn elections for a third term as President.

A manoeuvre which risks being counter-productive. "It has still not been declared that this agreement will come through, given that Musharraf does not want to give up his title", comments Rashid from Lahore. "However, that’s not to say that this will produce the desired political outcome, or rather one which will guarantee political stability in Pakistan. Bhutto is popular because she embodies Pakistani aversion towards Musharraf and the generals, but with this manoeuvre, which gives life to the regime, Bhutto risks losing all the support she has and thus risks being seen as weak in her position as the crutch for the regime."
The other historic leader of the Pakistani democratic opposition, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, has underlined how the Bhutto initiative violates the agreement signed by the two last year, where both parties declared that they would never reach an accord with Musharraf's regime.
"The agreement is wrong, and we shall fight against it," stated the other opposition of Musharraf, united Islamic council Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and integralist Taliban supporter.
The US and Great Britain political strategy risks dividing and weakening the moderate and pro-western Pakistani forces, resulting in favour towards extremist and anti-western forces which, through political struggle and weapons, want to overrule who the integralists call "Busharraf", and make Pakistan a Taliban-style emirate.