 | BBC News, Islamabad |
Baloch militants have targeted railway tracks, power facilities and other key installations in a campaign which has run for two years.
In March 2005, the family was held up at a San Francisco, California airport because security personnel detected traces of TNT in his son's diaper bag; they missed their United Airlines flight, but were cleared to depart and caught a later plane.[3] Additionally, his father has been criticized for allegedly allowing government contracts to Bilal's father-in-law, Aftab Siddiqui, a retired army officer who is a civil engineer with an MS from UC-Berkeley.[4]
By Simon Cameron-Moore
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - President Pervez Musharraf, scotching rumors of a coup six months ago, told Pakistanis their country was not a "banana republic, where such things happen suddenly."
Filled with trepidation over a deepening political crisis, people could do with a similar reassurance now, but this time Musharraf's crisis is real and appears self-induced.
A ham-fisted attempt to sack Pakistan's top judge, and the use of excessive force to cow the media and counter protests has created the greatest challenge to Musharraf's authority over the Muslim country since he seized power in a coup 7 ½ years ago.
Things got so bad over the weekend that Musharraf said there was a conspiracy to turn people against him, and the United States, worried by instability in an allied country next door to Afghanistan and Iran, called for cool heads to prevail.
By Sunday, Islamabad's rumor mill went into overdrive with talk that the constitution had been suspended, the National and provincial assemblies dissolved and martial law declared.
It was just rumor, but analysts say it could yet happen.
"Musharraf is capable of declaring martial law, and he's capable of making a political retreat and calling it a victory," said Najam Sethi, editor of the Daily Times newspaper.
