The Hindu : International : U.S. officials' presence in Pakistan unusual?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 15, 2007
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U.S. officials' presence in Pakistan unusual?

Nirupama Subramanian

ISLAMABAD: United States Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte will join Assistant Secretary Richard Boucher in Pakistan on Friday for a visit that increasingly has the looks of a mission to gauge the extent of President Pervez Musharraf's political troubles.

But the Pakistan Foreign Ministry, which confirmed Mr. Negroponte's visit, denied theunusual presence of two U.S officials in Pakistan at the same time had anything to do with the political situation in the country, and said it was part of the "regular bilateral consultations".

Mr. Boucher met Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri and Foreign Secretary Riaz Muhammed Khan on Wednesday, the first day of a lengthy five-day visit.

However, the meeting that sent out the most important signals was the one the U.S. official had with the Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Qazi Muhammed Farooq,

The meeting is reported to have lasted 40 minutes, and speaking informally with several Opposition politicians at a reception later in the evening, Mr. Boucher said the U.S. wanted Pakistan to hold free and fair elections.

On a visit to the Balochistan capital Quetta on Thursday, Mr. Boucher, reviewed security on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and met government officials and members of the Opposition. He also visited a school where a voter list was put up as part of a nation-wide effort by the Election Commission to display the revised electoral rolls.

The revision has created a controversy as the number of registered voters has decreased substantially from 2002. Opposition parties allege that voters in their strongholds have been left out in the revised lists.

Earlier this week, the State Department said the Bush Administration expected Gen. Musharraf to hold parliamentary elections first and seek his re-election from the new Assemblies, and that the elections should be free and fair, and "meet international standards".

Guessing game

Also, in its clearest statement yet on the issue, the State Department said the Bush Administration expected Gen. Musharraf to keep his pledge that "if he continues in political life", he would "put aside the uniform".

The visit by Mr. Negroponte, his first as deputy secretary, has set off a guessing game in the Pakistan capital about the possible message from the Washington that the two officials may convey to the President when they meet him.

One widely-circulated speculation is that the U.S, which wants Gen. Musharraf to continue at the helm for its own interests, will press him to step down as army chief, and in return promise to persuade the Pakistan People's Party to support his re-election after the parliamentary elections.

PPP leader Ms. Bhutto said earlier this week that she was not averse to Gen. Musharraf's re-election but he must give up his uniform first.

The Nation wrote on Thursday that by sending a "second emissary", the U.S was "accelerating" its efforts to close a deal between Gen. Musharraf and "liberal political forces" in Pakistan.

The paper said Mr. Negroponte and Mr. Boucher would hold talks with leaders of the PPP, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League and other politicians aimed at forming a "broad-based government of liberal political forces" after the general elections.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tasnim Aslam rejected the report and said if the Government wanted to talk to the PPP, "it can do it on its own, there's no need for American help", as it was a Pakistani party, and "these are strictly our own matters".

Speaking to reporters at Wednesday's reception, Mr. Boucher also dismissed the suggestion that he was here to mediate between the PPP and the Government, and reiterated that his visit was part of the regular bilateral consultations with a strategic partnership.

He said the U.S wanted the crisis triggered by Gen. Musharaff's move to replace Mr. Chaudhary to be resolved through a "judicial process".

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