The public in Pakistan's at a media tipping point: The Northwest Frontier Provinces've put out a unanimous resolution requesting the expulsion of the US Ambassador to Pakistan, John Crocker, condeming the recent missle strikes in Damadola, requesting to refer the incident to the UN Security Council, and demanding an apology from the US.  [Zaman]

We demand the federal government declare US ambassador in Pakistan a persona non grata over the missile attack, which the American forces carried out in Bajur where innocent civilians were killed

According to Al Jazeera, Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said that the government would neither expel U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker nor seek any apology from Washington. This continues the Musharraf government's tacit support of our actions.

Usually, we don't hear about the protests after Hellfire strikes from our CIA/military teams (or even the Hellfire strikes, themselves) from over the border in Afghanistan into Pakistan that have been going on with some regularity since mid last year.  The January 13th one combined a larger than average civilian death toll, 18, with a stated high-profile target, Al Qaeda's #2 Zawahiri, causing not only the Pakistani media to cover the attack more but also, and more importantly, the US media to cover the incident and the subsequent protests. The Pakistani people have been simmering an anti-Musharraf feeling for a long time, and this incident's allowing a lot of ugly rhetoric to be exposed directly to the American people.

To emphasize the anti-American and anti-Musharraf effect it's having in Pakistan, one only needs to refer to this quote from Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician, Imran Khan, carried in Al Jazeera, as an anti-American protest he lead was turned away by authorities from Bajur province:  "If this unity prevails, we will also remove Musharraf." [Al Jazeera, Ireland Online]

Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who's currently in Washington meeting with Administration officials and other leaders said yesterday there was no evidence of an Al-Qaeda presence in the village. Aziz said "we have not found one body or one shred of evidence that these people (suspected terrorists) were there." Aziz has requested US to clear airstrikes with the Pakistani government beforehand also continuing the Musharraf government's policy of being limp wristed in their lip service to securing Pakistani sovereignty. Aziz is to meet with President Bush tomorrow. [IHT] Musharraf's government's definitely on-message and appear to be sufficiently pro-America for our military's objectives, but like our own country, Musharraf's domestic battle is getting more difficult. All of the alternatives to Musharraf are decidedly anti-American.

Monday, January 23, 2006
Thousands rally against US
INAYAT QALA: Thousands of angry Pakistanis protested on Sunday against a US air strike that killed civilians, chanting “Long live Osama Bin Laden!” as anti-American rallies in the country entered their second week. About 5,000 demonstrators assembled on a dry riverbed in a mountain market town near the site of the January 13 attack. They also burned effigies of US President Bush. ap
[Daily Times]

Thousands hold anti-US protests in Pakistan over attack, Boston Globe, 01/21/2006
Pakistanis Want US Envoy Expelled, Musharraf Under Fire, Islam Online, 01/23/2006