First came word that the local police would allow journalists to visit the Chaman border area in the southern area of Pakistan. But officials insisted that the visit be a single convoy of cars and vans accompanied by armed escorts. Just after 10 a.m., the convoy took off from Quetta toward the border with Afghanistan.
A little over an hour into the three-hour trip, with many of the journalists asleep, the convoy crested a hill. In a scene more reminiscent of an old Hollywood Western that an actual political protest, some 1,000 to 2,000 people began to race across the barren plain toward the convoy, shouting and waving and armed with sticks and rocks. They came from the direction of an Afghan refugee camp.
The convoy split into two as police began to battle with the anti-American protesters. As the skirmish continued, the convoy was turned around and headed back to the city.
One reporter noted that the first 10 journalists whose names were on the approved list that morning, and who were subsequently in the lead vehicles, were all American nationals. The whole scene, especially the timing of the mob heading towards the convoy, looked staged. Most of the reporters felt the whole excursion had been a set-up by Pakistani police, although to what end remained a mystery. At the least, it seemed inarguable a mob had been given advance notice that a convoy of Western journalists was about to pass through.
The strange day continued. While the journalists were on the road, an event that felt like a mild earthquake rocked Quetta. Rumours soon swirled that the tremor had been an errant missile landing somewhere outside of town. No rumours could be confirmed, but the local geologic centre did say that something registering 3.0 on the Richter scale had rocked Quetta, although they could not confirm that it had been an earthquake or where its epicentre was.
As the journalists returned to the hotel and were promptly locked in because of "security concerns" rumours spread that Pakistan had just experienced a coup. Gen Pervez Mushareff had been replaced by one of his hardline generals. The rumour seemed ridiculous on its face; Gen Musharref has enormous support in the army. Nonetheless, it was confirmed that a fire had swept army headquarters in Rawalpindi, just outside Islamabad, and had burned for five hours. There were reports of gunshots inside the building.
That all meant that hours were spent trying to confirm or eliminate the rumour. By the end of the day, there was no indication at all that Gen Musharref had been toppled.
But the whole business clearly sets the tone for what is happening now in Pakistan. As American bombs hit Afghanistan day and night, as various opposition parties regularly call for jihad, or holy war, uncertainty and anxiety are beginning to settle deeply into the lives of the people here. When will it end? they ask. And today, for the first time, they wonder who is in charge. Inside Afghanistan, meanwhile, the Taliban gave Osama bin Laden free rein to wage holy war on the United States as Washington said its war planes have the run of the Afghan skies.
Taliban spokesman Abdul Hai Mutmaen said the activities of bin Laden were no longer restricted following this week's US-led air strikes.
"With the start of the American attacks, these restrictions are no longer in place," Mr Mutmaen told the BBC. "Jihad is an obligation on all Muslims of the world. We want this, bin Laden wants this and America will face the unpleasant consequences."
The Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, told a news conference later that America would not be safe while it attacked Afghanistan. "As long as America is shedding the blood of Afghans it will not be beneficial to America," Mullah Zaeef said. "If America is continuing attacks on Afghanistan, it will also not be safe."
A spokesman for bin Laden's al-Qaeda network said in a video broadcast earlier by an Arabic television network that Americans could expect a repeat of the September attacks in a month, a year, or e a decade. "We're patient enough," he said.
The latest raids hit the capital Kabul and the southern city of Kandahar in the Taliban heartland, among other targets. The Taliban ambassador to Pakistan said their spiritual leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, and bin Laden were alive and well. He rejected suggestions that their air defences had been neutralised, saying that US planes were simply out of range. Taliban officials said that a US cruise missile hit a residential area in Kabul's eastern outskirts overnight. There was no independent confirmation.
The opposition Northern Alliance appeared to be trying to take advantage of the raids. It said it had seized control of the only remaining north-south highway after persuading 40 Taliban commanders and their 1,200 fighters to switch sides.