Pakistani troops have secured hills overlooking militant strongholds in a northwestern valley where up to 45 terrorists and four soldiers have been killed in fighting this week.

Pakistani forces launched an offensive this month to clear hundreds of well-armed Islamist militants loyal to a radical cleric from the scenic Swat valley of North West Frontier Province.

Musharraf has been reluctant to aggressively attack the militants when they only occupied the tribal areas which Pakistani forces have had little control over.

In recent weeks the militants have expanded beyond the tribal areas and have seized town and villages. They’ve terrorized the locals and imposed Taliban style Sharia law in those villages.

Now Pakistani forces are engaged in vicious battles to retake those towns and push back the terrorists.

Hopefully, Musharraf will let U.S. forces finish them off at some point.

-Chris Jones 

Police and soldiers emboldened by state of emergency powers swept up hundreds of activists and opposition members on Sunday, and turned government buildings into barbed-wire compounds.

Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s government said parliamentary elections could be delayed up to a year as it tries to stamp out a growing Islamic militant threat.

Scores of paramilitary troops blocked access to the Supreme Court and parliament. Streets in the capital appeared largely calm, with only a handful of demonstrations. But one, attended by 40 people at the Marriott Hotel, was broken up by baton-wielding police.

Among them were Javed Hashmi, the acting president of the party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif; cricket star-turned politician, Imran Khan; Asma Jehangir, chairman of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan; and Hamid Gul, former chief of the main intelligence agency and and terrorist supporter.

Since retiring as head of the ISI, Hamid Gul spends his days meeting with Islamic radicals and giving fiery anti-American speeches. He has said on numerous occasions that Al-Qaeda has a right to possess nuclear weapons, and he considers himself a friend of Osama Bin Laden.

While it may seem like an extreme and anti-Democratic move to suspend the constitution, Musharraf must take any and all necessary actions to purge his government of Islamic extremists. Taliban style Sharia law is rapidly spreading across Pakistan due to the growing numbers of radicals in the northwest area of Pakistan.

These extremists are now spreading from the tribal areas in the northwest to major cities and provinces within Pakistan. The fact that Pakistan is a nuclear power, is all the more reason not to allow Islamic extremism to spread any further and destabilize the central government of Pervez Musharraf.

-Chris Jones

I wrote two days ago about the dire situation that Pakistan is in as a result of growing Islamic militancy, and it looks like that situation has come to a head.

Gen. Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency in Pakistan on Saturday, suspending the constitution, replacing the chief justice before a crucial Supreme Court ruling on his future as president, and cutting communications in the capital.

His leadership threatened by an increasingly defiant court and an Islamic movement that has spread to Islamabad, Musharraf’s emergency order accused some judges of “working at cross purposes with the executive” and “weakening the government’s resolve” to fight terrorism.

In an address to the nation late Saturday on state-run television, Musharraf said Pakistan was at a “dangerous” juncture, its government threatened by Islamic extremists. He said he hoped democracy would be restored following parliamentary elections.

-Chris Jones