NEW YORK, July 13: President Pervez Musharraf’s growing political troubles pose a potentially serious problem for the Bush administration, which has embraced him as a secular-minded liberal and an ally in the war on terrorism, said the Washington Post on Saturday.

In an analysis, the Post says that since announcing the proposed constitutional amendments “Musharraf is coming under fire not just from Islamic militant groups and their political allies but from middle-class Pakistanis, including Westernized intellectuals and professionals, many of whom initially welcomed the military takeover.”

Before the referendum and amendment proposals, many people hoped that Gen Musharraf would prove a transitional figure, gracefully stepping aside — or remaining in office with reduced powers — after restoring democracy and equilibrium to politics, few would argue that now, it said.

Saying that people’s anger was not just directed at Musharraf, the paper said many Pakistanis also blamed Washington for the erosion of democracy, noting that the Bush administration had yet to offer any public criticism of the referendum or the proposed amendments.

“If there aren’t democratic elections,” a political scientist was quoted as saying, “you’ll have a lot more Islamic extremists coming out of a distorted political system to threaten American interests.”

“Ever since Sept 11, Musharraf has walked a tightrope in Pakistan. Islamic militants, who have traditionally enjoyed close ties to the army and intelligence agencies, have not forgiven him for withdrawing support from Afghanistan’s Taliban movement and, more recently, pledging to end cross-border incursions by militant groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir.

“But political parties representing religious extremists have never enjoyed broad popularity in Pakistan, and there is no indication that Musharraf is losing his grip on the country’s security services,” the paper said.

Public opinion polls, though notoriously unreliable, suggested that at least until a few months ago, most Pakistanis still were favorably inclined toward the military leader, it said.

Among those raising an outcry were newspaper editorial pages, human rights organizations, professional unions and the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy, which represented the main political parties, the paper said.