Last fortnight I called him the artful dodger. General Pervez Musharraf has lived up to that name. In his well-publicised address to his nation he was a far cry from looking like the beleaguered dictator of a divided country whose economy is in shreds and whose larger neighbour was ready to declare war on it. Not to mention that he has foreign troops on Pakistani soil searching for a Saudi terrorist. He came across instead as a modern-day reformer in the mould of Kemal Ataturk of Turkey.

Musharraf sought to alter the fundamental principle of religion that Pakistan's previous leaders had used as a bedrock of their policy and national identity. He said the day of reckoning had come and that he wanted Pakistan to move from being a theocratic state to a "progressive and dynamic Islamic welfare state".

Cleverly, the General's speech addressed domestic compulsions and took the international heat off him by taking on the religious fundamentalists. But Musharraf just fudged on India's prime concern of cross-border terrorism. He chose to keep the Kashmir pot boiling, knowing fully well that sidelining Kashmir would be political suicide.

Our cover story package this week studies the aftermath of Musharraf's speech in Pakistan. Rory McCarthy reports from Islamabad on the reactions to the speech from within the Pakistani establishment. Hasan Zaidi in Karachi investigates the spread of madarsas and what their future could possibly be in the Pakistan of Musharraf's imagination. Undoubtedly, Musharraf has taken an audacious gamble. Should he fail the consequences for both India and Pakistan would be serious. If he succeeds, he could end up being called the man who changed the subcontinent.

P.S.: General Zia-ul-Haq was on seven India Today covers during his 11-year rule. Musharraf, two years on, has already made it to eight.

(Aroon Purie)