How different is Pervez Musharraf today from the man we saw in Agra? International observers are increasingly viewing him as a President who enjoys more legitimacy than he did in July. But they also see him as someone who's dangerous to regional security, as he no longer keeps his appeasement of jehadis a secret.
For all his rantings against religious extremists, Musharraf appears to have reconciled to the fact that the jehadis are a fact of life in Pakistan.
Pak foreign minister Abdus Sattar's India-baiting in Durban this week and promise of more by the President at the UN General Assembly on September 24, confirm some of India's worst fears about the General: that he is very much the man who ordered Kargil and Kandahar.
Musharraf's tactics in Kashmir unfolds through his manipulations among Kashmirs.
In Pak occupied Kashmir, he is out to destroy the moderates who were turning towards the "third option" or independence from both Pakistan and India.
In the Indian state, he is encouraging the United Jehad Council to promote militant outfits so that the fallout of the near-certain split in the Hizbul Mujahideen, the only exclusive Kashmiri outfit, is minimalised.
Kashmiris in PoK are not too happy about the manner in which Islamabad installed its puppets, Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan as prime minister and Major General Muhammad Anwar Khan as president.
The former president and veteran Muslim Conference leader, Sardar Mohammad Ibrahim Khan, initially announced his retirement from active politics. But sensing discontent against the manner in which the "third option" leaders were being persecuted, he changed his decision.
In Northern Areas, which was created by bifurcating PoK, Musharraf is encouraging the sectarian group, Sipah-e-Sahaba, to browbeat the predominantly Shia population.
That is why Musharraf personally intervened to sabotage late last month the Sindh governor's move to prevent this organisation's fund collection drive in the province. Though the Sipah-e-Sahaba and its bete noire, the Lashkar e Janghvi, are promoting Shia-Sunni riots in Karachi, the former comes of great use to the military regime in Gilgit, sources say.
The LeT and the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen,
with patronage from Musharraf, made it clear in Islamabad last week that
they are not impressed with the New York round of the Indo-Pak dialogue.