Pakistan’s recent slide toward political instability could have important repercussions for Central Asian states. One of Pakistan’s most fervent Islamic groups, Tablighi Jamaat, also happens to be among the most active in proselytizing in Central Asia. From EurasiaNet. In Islamabad, the military government of General Pervez Musharraf is coming under increasing pressure from Islamic political forces inside the country from one side, and the Bush administration from the other. Accordingly, the Pakistani president’s room for maneuver seems to be shrinking. Domestically, a government crackdown on religious extremist groups, underscored by security force’s attack on a radical mosque in Islamabad in early July, seems to have accelerated the erosion of Musharraf’s support base.
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