It is a classic defensive and diversionary tactic when an administration is under pressure from the masses. Engage in a missile test, preferably one with potential nuclear enhancement. It will remind the troublesome populace of enemies abroad, of the need to stand together, of the leader's macho credentials.
And so it is that Pakistan has tested a nuclear-capable missile with a range of 700 km. Military authorities described the Hatf VII Babur device as a cruise missile capable of carrying a variety of warheads including nuclear.
President Pervez Musharraf, a close ally of the US in the "war on terrorism" who came to power nearly eight years ago in a bloodless coup, is currently facing the greatest challenge to his authority yet. Hundreds of Pakistani lawyers and opposition supporters have been protesting in Lahore, Islamabad, Karachi and Muzaffarabad, a partial general strike was observed in a number of cities, and at least seven judges and an assistant attorney general have resigned, over his sacking of the widely respected chief justice. Mr Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was suspended on March 9th on as yet unspecified charges of misconduct, and subsequently kept under virtual house arrest. Lawyers' offices have been broken up by police, their staff beaten, computers destroyed and files ransacked in response to their protests.
Their suspicion is that the independent-minded judge, who last year pressed hard for information about people who allegedly disappeared at the hands of the nation's intelligence services and struck down the privatisation of a large steel mill, was set to put a spoke in the president's election campaign in the autumn. He was said to be ready to block any attempt by the president to keep the post of army chief, which he is due to give up this year.
Musharraf has also recently been under some international pressure from the US to step up his military campaign against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in the tribal areas of Waziristan bordering on Afghanistan where over 100 have died in fighting over the last few days. Despite congressional reservations about his ability to deliver, the Bush administration last week announced a $750 million aid package and assistant secretary of state Richard Boucher spoke soothingly in Islamabad about the US supporting the modernising and democratising road down which "Musharraf is leading the nation".
The truth is the protests are about far more than a decision to suspend a judge. The larger question, democracy activists and the opposition say, is whether Pakistan will be governed by the rule of law, or by one-man rule. Musharraf has yet to prove his democratic credentials.