NEW YORK: Military attaches from the US and several other western nations are discreetly contacting senior Pakistani generals and asking them to press President Pervez Musharraf to back down from the emergency decree amid fears that sustained popular unrest may turn the army against him.
But for the time being, the 'New York Times' says, Bush administration officials are unanimous in saying that American financial support for Pakistan will continue regardless of whether General Musharraf reverses course.
A senior White House official was quoted as saying that President Bush still held out hope that American pressure could persuade General Musharraf to reconsider his moves. That approach, the official said, was 'Option No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3'.
But American support for General Musharraf himself is not limitless, several administration officials privately told the Times.
"We want to believe he will come around, and are giving him every opportunity to change his actions, but our verbal support is not going to last for very long," a senior administration official was quoted as saying.
Among Western diplomats, the paper says there is rising concern that Musharraf's declaration is also damaging the standing of the Pakistani Army as an institution, which has long been seen as the force holding the country together.
Rumblings of discontent with Musharraf exist in the armed forces, but they are far from reaching the point where the army's senior generals would turn against him, Western officials and Pakistani analysts were quoted as saying.
But they say sustained popular unrest against General Musharraf could cause the army to turn on him.
