Periscope.

Byline: Ron Moreau and Zahid Hussain (Kevin Peraino Holly Peterson David J. Jefferson)

Long-Awaited Wake-Up Call

On Friday, shots were fired at the plane of President Pervez Musharraf--another assassination attempt at the end of a truly disastrous week. For days, government forces had battled Taliban- style Islamic radicals--not at the country's lawless fringes but in its very heart, Islamabad. Musharraf, already beleaguered by fierce secular opposition, has long ignored the religious extremists creeping out of Afghanistan and toward Pakistan's center. Then clashes erupted at Islamabad's Red Mosque--a mere five-minute drive from the presidential palace. Musharraf was shaken out of his torpor and sent in the Army. "[He] finally realizes the consequences of [his] dubious compromises with extremists," says a Western diplomat in Islamabad, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the subject. But has the president awoken too late?

The United States and secular Pakistanis have long warned Musharraf of the risks posed by aggressive Islamists. But fearful of confrontation, he's resisted any action. That's despite the fact that radical mullahs in the border regions have been gradually exporting their Taliban-style culture and morality deeper and deeper into the country. The murder of "American spies" and suicide bombings have become increasingly common, as have attacks on "immodest" individuals in the cities.

With parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for later this year, all this may come to a head. Violent Islamist street protests against Musharraf's belated crackdown could materialize. A suicide bomber hit an Army convoy in North Waziristan on Wednesday, killing six soldiers, apparently in reaction to Musharraf's latest moves. Then there was the attempt on his plane. Avoiding confrontation for so long may turn out to have been Musharraf's riskiest gamble yet.

Ron Moreau and Zahid Hussain

Splintered Power