ISLAMABAD -- If President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's military ruler, felt he was winning over world opinion following his recent kudos-winning trips to Japan and the United States, he couldn't have chosen a worse moment.
Barely a week after returning back home, Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, is faced with sharply deteriorating internal security conditions in the wake of a devastating grenade attack on a church in Islamabad that left five dead and 45 injured.
Most of the casualties were foreigners, ensuring that the event received widespread international coverage and adding to existing fears over the future of Pakistan. To make matters worse, a report on Pakistan issued last week by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group could not have been more scathing.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.