Pakistan's King Canute

The embattled president of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, is looking more and more like the legendary king who tried to stop the tide. As he continues to defy calls to renounce his military position and hold a free and fair election, his position is looking increasingly fragile.

"I am not a dictator, I want a democracy," he told Sky News. "The day when there is no turmoil in Pakistan, I will step down." Hollow words from someone who, in the last hour, arrested his political opponent Imran Khan and who, over the last few weeks, has repeatedly restricted the movement of his rival Benazir Bhutto.

The arrest of Khan is sure to add yet more fuel to the growing pro-democracy fire - in Pakistan, and in the rest of the world. I was surprised to read an excellent article about Jemima Khan, Imran's ex-wife, and her thoughtful, intelligent and eloquent attempts to protest against the current situation in Pakistan. London will surely sit-up and take notice at Khan's arrest, and increase the pressure on Musharraf.

And Musharraf is looking like an increasingly desperate figure. Unless he wants to go the way of Burma and completely ignore international pressure, risking isolation and a severing of valuable political and economic ties in the process, then Musharraf will have to listen to pro-democracy campaigners. He cannot go on surpressing the press, and fighting lawyers and political opponents in the street. And surely as soon as a regime tries to silence it's critics, then it is on a slippery slope towards failure.