Muslims in India attack Hindus over music

Hugh Fitzgerald points to the disturbing problem of Islamofascists in India who attacked Hinduists over their music celebrations, on Ramadan and surely even when it's not the holiday:

Contrary to the popular view that portrays them as a hapless minority, Muslims are the second-largest population and the fastest-growing demographic in India, and by far the most pampered one, be it by media, politicians, or pop culture. Ramadan is a month when Muslims fast during the daytime; however, it is shocking how Muslims force their religious beliefs on non-Muslims, Hindus in particular, and stop them from going on with their regular lives and celebrating their festivities.

In Banswada town in Telangana, a Muslim mob gathered in front of a department store and resorted to violence. The incident occurred on February 20, when a Hindu saleswoman at the Reliance Smart Mart store played a devotional song dedicated to the Hindu deity, Goddess Durga. A Muslim customer, Muzammil, who was at the store at the time, objected to the music and asked her to stop it, as Ramadan was ongoing.

The situation quickly deteriorated, as a massive Muslim crowd gathered outside the store and began throwing stones at it. Police efforts to calm the throng were also met with stone-throwing, leaving at least two police constables injured. Police officials have confirmed that 10 to 12 individuals have been arrested in connection with the unrest. In response, additional security forces were deployed throughout the town to stop further escalation. Authorities, who are always rushing in to safeguard Muslims, their interests, and image, warned against the spread of provocative content on social media that could incite further communal tension. Efforts were reportedly made to suppress this news, or rather, the incident did not find mention in many news reports.

Another incident of Islamic entitlement during the holy month occurred in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, which again was not reported by most news agencies, lest the popular perception of Muslims be tarnished. A traditional Hindu wedding procession turned violent on Friday night, February 20, after a dispute over the music played during the celebration escalated. The incident occurred in the Rakhial area when the Hindu groom’s party was playing songs dedicated to Hindu deities associated with the ceremony, a common practice in India. Muslims formed a gathering and objected to the music, citing the ongoing observance of Ramadan, and demanded that the Hindus stop playing the songs.

The disagreement quickly turned hostile, as Muslims started throwing stones at wedding guests and nearby parked vehicles, forcing the celebration to be halted abruptly. The Hindus were holding their celebrations at their venue, and the Muslims still objected to it, claiming that they were fasting and preferred quieter gatherings.

This is utterly repugnant, and any police, media and politicians who bury the news for the sake of brownie points should be absolutely ashamed of themselves. The public in India who were struck by these atrocities should start demanding that the Islamofascists be exiled, and there should be serious opposition to any further indoctrination by the Religion of Peace.

Joe Sacco minimizes the seriousness of Islamic terror in India

The Washington Post wrote some fluff-coated takes on GNs published this year, and it includes one by the anti-Israel cartoonist Joe Sacco, who's now apparently trying to downplay the seriousness of Islamic terrorism in India, in the pages of a GN titled "Once and Future Riot":

For decades, Sacco has carved out a space for rigorous, fact-based journalism in comics, with books on the Palestinian territories, the Bosnian war and other topics. Here he examines the Muzaffarnagar riots that tore through Uttar Pradesh, India, in 2013. Interviewing survivors and perpetrators on both sides, he carefully depicts how relations between the region’s Hindu and Muslim communities broke down. In the process of telling the story of these few days of violence and pain, he lays out a larger narrative about the rise of Hindu nationalism that is all the more troubling for the evenhanded way he explains it.

When he attacks Indian nationalism, it's harder to believe his approach is "evenhanded", especially when the following panel suggests otherwise:

So the Muslim figure on the panel is denying there's such a thing as "love jihad", even though there have been cases of this occurring in what could be described as one of the worst forms of coercion, and attempts to force women to convert to Islam. Also notice how the panel depicts non-Muslims attacking one who is Muslim, and it's set up to make it look like they're doing it out of false accusations. What "careful depictions" is Sacco working on here? This is shameful, right down to how the non-Muslims assaulting the Islamist are made to look nasty, while the cleric, by contrast, is depicted as calm and sympathetic. The riots in Muzaffarnagar were sparked by the murder of 2 men by 7 culprits who were Islamists (and certainly had names often used by followers of the Religion of Peace), and were handed down sentences eventually for their repugnant crimes. It won't be shocking if Sacco obfuscated all that. What's drawn in the panel is anything but "fact-based".

Sacco continues to prove he's one of the worst pro-Islam propagandists in the political comics business, and I hesitate to think what disfavors he's done for 9-11 survivors in the USA in the near quarter century since the tragedy in NYC. The Wash. Post is similarly doing disfavors by sugarcoating his works, and only make clear they're one of the worst papers to talk about the comics medium in any format.

Israeli animator sugarcoats and ignores the belief system that led to October 7, 2023

The Jerusalem Post recently spoke about animated shorts produced by an Israeli entrepreneur who's worked in animation, and produced a series of short cartoons called "God's Gang", which cannot seem to get its "point" across without including a character representing Islam, and even then, the rest of the cast in the cartoon shorts reeks of stereotypical development:

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s – a group of four superheroes from different religions, all working together to save the world.

That’s the premise of God’s Gang, a series of interfaith cartoons on YouTube that was created by Israeli hi-tech entrepreneur Nimrod-Avraham May, who developed this channel out of a desire to promote tolerance and love.

May said that he was inspired to create this interfaith story when he thought, “I know many people who are not Jews or Israelis who are kind and compassionate and truthful and positive and friendly and loving, and why not build these bridges instead of bombing them?... The show is not a show about religion or faith.... It’s a show [whose] underlying message is promoting coexistence and unity, the teaching of love,” he said. But he chose to convey these messages via children’s action-adventure and comedy cartoons.

The hit success of God's Gang

Since the series began running last September, it has become wildly successful, acquiring 1.5 million subscribers in just a few months. May has added to the YouTube channel, in addition to the cartoons themselves, videos about different aspects of the series, with everything from lessons on how to draw the characters to content about how the series was developed. There is even a video where May reads what he calls the “mean comments” out loud and discusses them.

But the heart of it is the cartoons themselves, which feature the four superheroes – and heroines: Sumuslim, a Muslim who fights sumo-style and whose power is “hypno-storytelling,” with which he mesmerizes listeners with tales from Arab lore; TaekWonHindu, a “big sister” to the group, who loves heavy metal and fights with Taekwondo, and uses “third-eye telepathy” with animals and can multiply her arms like various Hindu gods; Ninjew, a basketball-loving Jew who has a kind of laser vision and employs “special Kabbalah invisibility powder”; and Chris Cross, a Southern Baptist street preacher who uses karate (with an unbeatable flying kick), whose power is that when he turns his cheek, he can deflect anything thrown at it.

Well this is certainly telling, and most pathetic how Mr. May apparently cannot muster the courage to differentiate between religions and make clear there's such a thing as both good and bad religions, and good and bad ways to practice one. And what's this about the Jewish character emphasizing "invisibility"? Even if that alludes to going into combat cloaked, it sounds on the surface like he's written hiding himself based on his ethnic background, which isn't a very healthy idea either. But of course, what's really offensive is Mr. May's apparent sugarcoating of Islam. This is a religion that calls for smiting necks of kuffar (infidels/non-Muslims) in Sura 47:4 of the Koran, approves of sexual violence in Sura 2:223, and many of these verses and other such content of the "religion of peace" played a part last year in the October 7, 2023 bloodbath in southern Israel, yet Mr. May has the chutzpah to shrug all that off by giving Islam a role it doesn't deserve in his cartoon project? Does he even know about the antisemitic verses in the Koran, including 5:60's reference to Jews as "sons of apes and pigs"? What May's doing is perpetuating a vehement refusal by people like him to investigate what could lead to bigoted behavior by anybody, based on selective PC. And that's continuing to seriously harm the world's ability to combat Islamic terrorism.

Depending how you see this, it's funny how an Arab character isn't considered for the role of a Christian, nor does May and his staff think of emphasizing an Armenian for the role, most likely because somebody would want to point out how Christians have been persecuted in Muslim countries, and the Turkish Ottoman empire's slaughter of Armenians during WW1 was motivated by the Religion of Peace. And the sugarcoating of Islam in May's cartoons is also hurtful to Hindus, because in India, there've been only so many horrors perpetrated by Islam in the span of over many years, and that too gets swept under the rug by ignoramuses like May. Does he really think realists are going to appreciate how he creates a moral equivalence between Islam and other religions that're still long persecuted by Islam? Men like May clearly never consider communities like 9-11 Families, Black Christians in Nigeria who've been murdered by jihadists, Israeli victims of Islamic terrorism, victims of the jihadists at the Bataclan in Paris, France, or even apostates from Islam like Rifqa Bary. By whitewashing Islam, men like May marginalize the people who really deserve the spotlight for heroism and appreciation. May continued to reveal the following:

THE IDEA for God’s Gang first came to him in 2006, May said. “I had joined Disney Channel right after they acquired Fox Entertainment from Haim Saban; two months after I joined, we were all invited to the Disney Channel Executive Summit, and I was in the marketing department. We all pitched ideas about what can make Disney great, and I offered them an interfaith Power Rangers.”

But the entertainment giant didn’t go for the idea. “Luckily, they left it for me. I feel it’s my life’s mission.”

A mission to obscure any serious issues that could be raised about the Religion of Peace? Well sadly, that appears to be just it. Most interesting he mentions Saban, whom I don't exactly consider a "national treasure" for Israel, any more than most other leftists of their kind. Saban's been one of the biggest Democrat donors, and while he may have recently been critical of the outgoing POTUS Joe Biden, it doesn't excuse how he's long been the kind of leftist who simply won't stay out of political affairs, among other questionable career specialties. To be sure, Disney was already far gone politically even during the mid-2000s, yet for the time, that didn't convince them to take up the kind of project he sadly crafted, which some Islamists will be quite pleased with, based on how it excuses their religion's dark record.

May said that he had grown up in a liberal, secular home, where his father was a Holocaust survivor and his mother was an orphan, with no family. Being without a family “was a proof for her that there is no God,” he said.

But after life threw some unexpected experiences at him, “I realized that I might have been wrong in thinking that this universe doesn’t have a governing entity, aka creator, source, God, the universe,” he said.

He began exploring his identity and studying Judaism, on his own and with rabbis, and gradually realized, he said, that all the teachings could be summed up in “two simple words: ‘one’ and ‘love.’”

The more he delved into Jewish mysticism, he realized “I had to do a big tikkun.... We were chosen to spread light.... I decided to commit myself to bringing people together. It’s a difficult mission.”

Coming from the world of marketing and entertainment, he said, “I was ready to tell the story of how we can get together.” Keeping in mind The Beatles’ lyrics to the songs “Give Peace a Chance” and “Come Together,” he chose to launch God’s Gang, which he had put aside for over a decade. “I decided to bring them to life during COVID, not knowing what the future would bring.”

Aware of the sensitivity of creating a cartoon with characters from different religions, he appointed a board of advisers, an “interfaith council” from all religious points of view, with whom he consults on every detail of the series, “just to make sure that we’re not harming anyone or touching on any sensitive topics that we shouldn’t get into.”

Among those he has brought on board is Rob Kutner, the head writer, who has won five Primetime Emmys, whose credits include The Daily Show and The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien. He also hired creators from Disney, Netflix, and DreamWorks.

The article is evasive of clearer answers, but it's not hard to guess he hired a committee that's much like the "sensitivity readers" hired by some leftist book publishers to work on the scripting. Even his alleged finding of faith is suspect, as he's clearly left-wing in his viewpoints, and the article largely obscures issues like October 7, 2023. Does he know lyrics like "give peace a chance" have also been exploited by leftists who ignore these serious issues involved? And then he even employed people who worked for one of leftist Steven Spielberg's companies. That's got to be telling too.

May is currently funding God’s Gang himself, and he said he is actively looking for partners, which will enable him to produce more episodes. He hopes to create four new episodes this year.

There is also an online store selling God Gang-themed merchandise, the profits from which May is channeling back into the cartoons: “This logo promotes love, and I want this to be the most recognized trademark in the world associated with the values that we’re promoting.”

In the upcoming episodes, new characters will be added, possibly a Buddhist and an atheist, although May said that the core of God’s Gang would remain the same. So will the message.

Does Mr. May know Muslims have persecuted and attacked Buddhists too? Even atheists aren't immune. Writing up roles for Buddhists in a cartoon like this isn't going to excuse the serious issues occurring in real life. I for one will not be funding his cartoons and merchandise, if he doesn't have the courage to make distinctions between good/bad religions, and ask whether it's possible, in allusion to the 10 Commandments, to use God's name in vain for any particular religion formed. I get the awful feeling that, if National Socialism were a full-fledged religion, ditto communism, he'd blur distinctions between those and other religions too.

Earlier in the year, the JTA had more fascinating details to tell about Mr. May and his propaganda cartoon:

But some Jewish viewers have criticized the creators for showing what they felt was a surprising lack of cultural sensitivity.

“There’s a part where the Muslim character throws a falafel bomb,” Sam Cooper, a Maryland-based pop culture critic, said in an interview. “I assume the goal of the show is to teach tolerance and educate people about other religions, but they don’t seem to be very good at that.” (Kutner said the character, Sumuslim, aspires to be a chef, but in hindsight the decision to have him prepare a big exploding falafel ball was “a little unfortunate.”)

Cooper also lamented that the Jewish character, Ninjew, is short and has big glasses and a nasally voice. “I’ve seen this stereotype in so many shows,” she says in her review. “Jewish guys aren’t allowed to be cool. They’re usually depicted as effeminate, nerdy and weak. And then our boy Ninjew is all that and then some.” (May defended Ninjew, describing him as “a handsome Jew” with non-stereotypical blue eyes and blonde hair.)

Shekhiynah Larks, a diversity, equity and inclusion consultant in the Bay Area and a fan of animated shows, questioned the decision to make Chriscross, the Christian character, a Black Baptist street preacher who wears an Afro and bell-bottoms.

“Conceptually, I really like the interfaith gang, but all of the characters seem like weird stereotypes,” said Larks, who is Black and Jewish. “The Black character made me think the creators haven’t seen a Black person since the Blaxploitation films.” (Kutner said Brandon Jones, a Baptist pastor who serves on the interfaith council and is Black, loved the character.)

Yes, this is pretty troubling alright. The Jewish character is made to look absurdly pious in a way that suggests he'll never be depicted as a ladies man, and one of the commentors at the Post article noted, "Question: why does this self-proclaimed egalitarian cartoonist depict Islam as a gargantuan muscle bound djinn dwarfing the other three religions and looking down on them over his left shoulder, with the Jews getting a pint sized myopic nerd?" Yes, what's with that? Not every Muslim adherent is tall, after all. Is May scared his Muslim audience will be offended? A clue as to the wokeness involved. Interesting a DEI specialist was quoted here, and even he found it appalling. As for the Black character having an Afro hairstyle, it could've been worse - in more recent times, there was a stereotype to depict Black men as bald, as happened to Luke Cage under Brian Bendis when he was at Marvel, IIRC (even Black women were put through humiliating ideas like that, as seen in modern Black Panther comics and even the sequel movie). But, a valid point is made that it's ridiculous to make it look like Blacks should all have Afro hairstyles.

I think the most galling thing about people like May is that they believe their ethnic background will actually keep anybody else from taking serious issue with any and all leftist ideologies they embrace, though as the above makes clear, of course there's also Christians who find it ludicrous, and Judeo-Christian critics certainly did find the part involving falafel used as an explosive weapon by the Islamist disturbing. May, regrettably, is just one in a whole ocean filled with leftist ideologues, mainly because only so many conservatives over the years trashed and threw away serious chances to build their own competition, and now, look where we are. I strongly advise parents who're realists to keep their children away from May's morally equivalent propaganda that clearly whitewashes the Religion of Peace at the expense of other religions with better values.

A fact-based movie from India that's important to see

There's a new movie produced in India (via Front Page) about a horrible tragedy where Muslims brainwashed Hindu and Christian girls into serving jihadism:

The trailer of The Kerala Story was released on April 26 and has led to reactions and controversy. The film by Vipul Amrutlal Shah aims to tell the tale of how women from the Indian state of Kerala women were tricked and trafficked to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in the conflict zone of Syria. The film directed by Sudipto Sen traces the journey of four female college students in Kerala who become part of the Islamic State.

Kerala leader of opposition V.D. Satheesan demanded that the film should not be allowed to be released.

The film especially showcases certain cases of how ‘love jihad’ was used by ISIS to lure 32,000 women to Syria. The trailer shows how men were brainwashed to woo Hindu and Christian women of Kerala in the name of love, convert them to Islam and convince them to join ISIS and other Islamic war zones. The shocking incidents occurred between 2018-19, when a rising number of Kerala youths had come under the influence of ISIS. [...]

The movie is based on a tragedy where around 32,000 women went missing in Kerala. They were allegedly brainwashed and lured by Muslim men, who married and converted them, radicalised them and later deployed them in terror missions in India and abroad for ISIS.

All must be done to ensure that this movie continues to be available for the public to see, and that there's security and safety for the public going to view it at the movie theaters. The leftists who're calling for censorship of this film should be condemned for what they're leading to, and should cease all attacks on it, period. The filmmakers have done the right thing to tackle the issue of women being lured into horrifying situations by Mohammedans and then put in the middle of war zones, making things worse.

OBAMA THE ORATOR

Obama doesn't really qualify as an orator, of course. He needs the technological version of Dean Martin's cue cards. Of course, Dino never pretended to be an orator.

From the Hindustan Times:

Obama to use teleprompter for Hindi speech

...Obama will make history for more than one reason during the Nov 6-9 visit. This will be the first time a teleprompter will be used in the nearly 100-feet high dome-shaped hall that has portraits of eminent national leaders adorning its walls.

Indian politicians are known for making impromptu long speeches and perhaps that is why some parliament officials, who did not wish to be named, sounded rather surprised with the idea of a teleprompter for Obama.

"We thought Obama is a trained orator and skilled in the art of mass address with his continuous eye contact," an official [said]...

Pathetic.

Embarrassing.

I teach public speaking at the high school level and won't allow my students as much reliance on note cards as the President of the United States relies on the teleprompter's scroll.

ONE COURAGEOUS FARMER'S DAUGHTER

An Indian girl showed terrorists that she's no pushover (Hat tip: Pirates' Cove):

An Indian farmer’s daughter disarmed a terrorist leader who broke into her home, attacked him with an axe and shot him dead with his own gun.

Rukhsana Kausar, 21, was with her parents and brother in Jammu and Kashmir when three gunmen, believed to be Pakistani militants, forced their way in and demanded food and beds for the night.

[...]

His daughter was hiding under a bed when she heard him crying as the gunmen thrashed him with sticks. According to police, she ran towards her father’s attacker and struck him with an axe. As he collapsed, she snatched his AK47 and shot him dead.

She also shot and wounded another militant as he made his escape.

Police have hailed the woman’s bravery.

They said she would be nominated for the president’s gallantry award.

She may also receive a €4,500 reward if, as police believe, the dead terrorist is confirmed as Uzafa Shah, a wanted Pakistani LeT commander who had been active in the area for the past four years.

Yes, give her the dough, she's earned it! Plus the presidential prize. There's a girl who should set an example for how to stand up to terrorists.

INDIA'S OPTIONS

Barry Rubin at the GLORIA Center talks about India's options following the horrific bloodbath committed by the Pakistani terrorists the other week.

BECAUSE THE AUTHORITIES WERE UNPREPARED, THAT'S WHY MUMBAI SUFFERED

Here's an explanation why India has been victimized only so many times by terrorist attacks (Hat tip: Power Line):

In the first wave of the attacks, two young gunmen armed with assault rifles blithely ignored more than 60 police officers patrolling the city's main train station and sprayed bullets into the crowd. Bapu Thombre, assistant commissioner with the Mumbai railway police, said the police were armed mainly with batons or World War I-era rifles and spread out across the station.

"They are not trained to respond to major attacks," he said.

The gunmen continued their rampage outside the station. They eventually ambushed a police van, killed five officers inside - including the city's counterterrorism chief - and hijacked the vehicle as two wounded officers lay bleeding in the back seat.

"The way Mumbai police handled the situation, they were not combat ready," said Jimmy Katrak, a security consultant. "You don't need the Indian army to neutralize eight to nine people."

Constable Arun Jadhav, one of the wounded policemen, said the men laughed when they noticed the dead officers wore bulletproof vests.

Bulletproof vests will not protect head, arms and legs, and if the monsters knew how and where to aim, that's why the policemen were murdered.

Aside from that, there's the problem of that the police were not trained to deal with situations like these, which is simply atrocious. According to this article from Time, the residents of Mumbai want some answers and changes. More precisely, as I can tell, they want improvements:

Terrorist attacks in India have increased in scale and frequency over the past decade. This year alone, the country's biggest cities - including New Delhi, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Jaipur, among others - have suffered bomb blasts that have killed hundreds of people. Mumbai, the country's financial center, was attacked in a series of bombing in 1993 that killed 257 people, and again in the 2006 train bombings that killed 184. Each time, the city dusted itself off and got back to work, buoyed by the seemingly indomitable "Mumbai spirit." But this time, Mumbaikars aren't in a rush to restore normalcy; they want answers and they want changes. (See pictures of Mumbai in the aftermath of the attacks.)

And they should have, more precisely, improvements. Noise must be made in order to bring that about, and no rest should be had until a campaign for better security yields results.

India suspends rail service to Pakistan

YAHOO/AFP:

New Delhi has suspended two train services to Pakistan following violence in the wake of the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto, the railways ministry said.
ADVERTISEMENT

Two trains were "cancelled on security considerations with immediate effect until further notice," the ministry said in a statement late Friday.

• IF AL QAEDA IS INDEED BEHIND THE BHUTTO ASSASSINATION THEN THE INDIA-PAKISTAN BORDER AND KASHMIR IS WHERE THERE COULD BE SOME DANGEROUS ADVENTURISM AND ESCALATION.

• AL QAEDA - WHICH THRIVES ON CHAOS AND EXPLOITING OLD HATREDS - WOULD LOVE TO SEE THE REGION DEVOLVE INTO CHAOS AND WAR.

• IN THIS SENSE, WE SHOULD SEE THE BHUTTO ASSASSINATION AS THE EQUIVALENT TO THE DESTRUCTION OF IRAQ'S GOLDEN MOSQUE.

LET'S HOPE THIS EFFORT FAILS.

NOTE: DOUBTING AL QAEDA'S ROLE IS - IMHO - A FORM OF MHS: MUSHARRAF DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.

WOMEN LEADERS

I talked at length about Pratibha Patil, the first woman president of India on my radio show and other women leaders this past Monday. While researching for the show I had sought in vain to find out more info about the office of the presidency in India and the beliefs of the party she is associated with, the UPA (United Progressive Alliance). Patrick wrote an excellent post on politics in India. He also answered my question about women in Pakistan. Check both posts out, they are very informative.

For my previous post on women leaders, go here! The list of women leaders hasn't changed much since then with the exception of Patil.

Reliapundit posted on how Patil may be good for India since she has promised to "end to the widespread practice of aborting female foetuses."

AGENT OF PAKISTAN'S ISI ARRESTED FOR JIHADIST ACTIVITY IN INDIA

TIMES OF INDIA:

An alleged operative of Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI has been arrested in Hyderabad by the Special Investigation Cell (SIC) which is assisting CBI in its probe into Mecca Masjid bomb blast, police sources said on Saturday.

Mohammed Abdul Sattar, a 27-year-old airconditioner mechanic, was picked up on Friday from near Secunderabad railway station while moving under suspicious circumstances with a travelling bag, sources in Police Commissioner's office said.

He allegedly confessed that he had received arms training in Pakistan in 2004 along with other ISI activists under the leadership of Shaheed, a key suspect in the May 18 Masjid blast that left eleven persons dead, they said.

However, it was not clear if Sattar had any role in the blast. The police seized provocative literature and VCDs on jehadi activities, the sources said.

Sattar reportedly informed the police that he had crossed the Bangladesh border twice and he was trained in handling weapons and preparing explosives.

He also said that he was assigned the task of recruiting youths for training in Pakistan and to motivate them for jehadi activities.

ALONG WITH IRAN AND THE HOUSE OF SAUD, PAKISTAN REMAINS A MAJOR SOURCE OF GLOBAL JIHAD.

THEY MIGHT BECOME OUR BIGGEST PROBLEM IN THE POST-MUSHARRAF ERA - WHICH MIGHT BEGIN SOONER THAN YOU THINK...

REMEMBER: THEY HAVE NUKES.

WHICH IS THE REAL REASON WHY NEGROPONTE AND FALLON JUST PAID MUSHARRAF A VISIT:

Senior U.S. officials held talks with President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday, after stressing Washington's desire to see him guide Pakistan to free and fair elections, and eventually quit his post as army chief.

Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher met Musharraf against the backdrop of a brewing political crisis over the president's move to sack the country's top judge.

Admiral William J. Fallon, chief of the U.S. Central Command, later met General Musharraf, who gained power in a coup eight years ago and became a crucial ally in the fight against al Qaeda and a Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.

REAL STORY: A WARNING WAS SENT:

IF PAKISTAN SLIPS INTO POLITICAL INSTABILITY AND CHAOS - OR IS TAKEN OVER BY A REGIME WHICH ACTIVELY SUPPORTS GLOBAL JIHAD, THEN WE WILL DO WHAT WE ALLEGEDLY THREATENED TO DO IN SEPTEMBER 2001.