The army take-over of power in Pakistan last night is a dangerous development in an unstable region of the world. It comes after prolonged tension between President Nawaz Sharif and the armed forces, culminating in his dismissal of General Pervez Musharraf yesterday, which led to the coup. The president's arbitrary behaviour over recent months was exacerbated by the conflict with India over Kashmir. That was scaled down only after intervention by the United States, increasingly anxious at the escalation of tension between two new nuclear powers whose political leaders are particularly prone to nationalist pressures. The case for firm and rapid international action to contain such turbulence is powerful and immediate.
President Sharif has this year been asserting his political role much more vigorously, dismissing the chief justice and other officials, as well as prosecuting the opposition leader, Mrs Benazir Bhutto, for corruption - a charge on which she was convicted in her absence. Yesterday she blamed the president personally for destabilising Pakistani politics, talking of civil war. Certainly, he took on more than he bargained for when he dismissed the army chief-of-staff. The military have ruled Pakistan for 25 out of the country's 52 years of independence from Britain, following partition of the sub-continent with India in 1947. That division threw up the recurrent conflict between them over Kashmir, ruled by India but claimed as a Muslim enclave by Pakistan.
The Indians have always refused to contemplate any such claim, based on their conviction that to do so would concede the basic principle of sectarian division and fly in the face of secular and democratic values - quite aside from the issues of state sovereignty and borders involved. That principle has held firm despite the rapid development recently of religious-based parties and movements in both states. Pakistan is officially proclaimed an Islamic state, reinforcing the importance of the Kashmir issue and its impact in neighbouring countries. In India, the Hindu-based Bharatiya Janata Party led by Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, has just secured a working majority in parliamentary elections. Thus religion and nationalism have reinforced one another in both states.
This confluence of values has added dangerous volatility to the determination of India and Pakistan to match their nuclear capacity with the development of missiles and a series of nuclear tests. Despite attempts by their leaders to reduce the tension, under severe political pressure from the United States, very little progress has been made in that direction. This military coup adds new uncertainty to a dangerously polarised relationship, especially since the source of tension between President Sharif and General Musharraf can be traced back to the president's decision last July to urge the withdrawal of Pakistani guerrilla infiltrators from Kashmir.
The United Nations Security Council must co-ordinate international efforts to contain this tension and prevent it destabilising the south-west Asian region. Unless such action is taken, there is a danger that other states could offer support to one or other of the parties. Pakistan's political system must be returned to civilian control as part of this process.