I've Had All I Can Pakistans, I Can't Pakistans No More

Although, evidently, Pervez Musharraf can:

Hundreds of students have occupied Pakistan's Red Mosque as it reopened for prayers, demanding the return of its arrested pro-Taleban cleric.

Security forces stood by as protesters raised a black flag, and clambered onto the roof of the Islamabad mosque to daub it with paint. ...

The students chanted slogans against President Pervez Musharraf and pushed journalists out of the building.

That was just the beginning:

An explosion has rocked Pakistan's Red Mosque after violent clashes between police and Islamist students, killing several people, officials say.

There were unconfirmed reports that the blast was a bomb aimed at police, and that at least one officer was killed.

Would it be impolitic to ask a few questions about this? Like, for example, why the Red Mosque (intriguing name, that) was re-opened for prayers at all, much less so soon after Pakistani security forces liberated it from the Islamists that had used it as a hostage dungeon a scant two weeks ago? And might it be considered a bad sign that members of those same security forces allowed "students" to just waltz right back into the Mosque and reclaim it as a terrorist base of operations? Or was this part of the "political solution" Musharraf's foreign ministry was referring to the other day that will "buy peace for a time"?

Looks from this vantage point like that "investment" was utterly squandered. Admiral Ed is sage to ask how many times the Pakistani strongman can bloodily retake the same ground before his "strength" - and his regime along with it, with all that would portend for the wider war - is sapped altogether.