"When a Western reporter asked Ghazi whether his anti-vice activities signaled the "Talibanization" of Pakistan, he replied, "Rudy Giuliani, when he became mayor of New York, closed the brothels. Was that also Talibanization?" Meanwhile, President Pervez Musharraf's government stood by and did nothing. A few weeks later, plainclothes police officers drifted too close to the mosque, and the local Taliban kidnapped them as well. On April 6, after Friday prayers, worshipers from Lal Masjid blocked a road and lit a bonfire using a pile of un-Islamic CDs and DVDs as kindling. Musharraf's response? Still nothing.
But in late May, Ghazi's vigilantes pushed their luck when they snatched six Chinese women from a massage parlor in Islamabad and held them hostage for a day. Beijing pressured Musharraf to protect Chinese citizens, and finally the noose tightened."
So, no one should get too terribly excited about Pakistan getting serious about cracking down on unless Beijng gets pissed. See, China has a big Army and isn't involved in a massive war peripheral at best to its interests, so it can take care of its citizens. Us, not so much. If we could get Beijing pissed at Osama B then maybe...
I'm not one for capital punishment, but I must admire the efficiency with which Beijing dealt with Zheng Xiayu.
Posted by: Comandante Agi | 16 July 2007 at 06:05 PM
The problem with capital punishment in this case is that they probably will not be shooting the clowns who bribed this Bubba. It's sort of like Abrahamjackoff going to jail but not those who paid the bribes to him/for him and with him. Or the people he influenced. When the Premier announces as Deng did in 1978 that "to get rich is glorious!" lots of unsavory things happen.
Posted by: Crusader AXE | 16 July 2007 at 08:31 PM