Here’s Peter on Musharraf:
Gordon Brown refuses to meet the Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe, but on Monday he will embrace Musharraf of Pakistan at 10 Downing Street. No surprise there. After all, Britain and the US are long-time allies and supporters of Musharraf’s dictatorship. Despite occasional mild admonishments, our government, in our name, supports him politically, diplomatically, economically and militarily; selling Musharraf the weapons he uses to suppress his own people. Since 2001, the US has bankrolled Musharraf to the tune of $10bn. US fighter planes are used to bomb and strafe pro-nationalist towns and villages in annexed and colonised Baluchistan. Without western aid to support this state terrorism, Musharraf’s regime would fall.
