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Pakistan: U.S. for smooth transition

ISLAMABAD: The United States wants a smooth transition from military rule to an elected government and believes that President Pervez Musharraf will stand by his commitments to “deal with the uniform issue in accordance with the Constitution”.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said here on Thursday that Gen. Musharraf was committed to holding free and fair elections as part of a larger programme to modernise Pakistan.

“We want to see a smooth and stable transition in Pakistan, a transition that leads a government that people have voted for and that leads to a stable political situation, and has a strong political base, which can deal with extremism and that can see Pakistan continue to partner us,” the visiting official said at a press conference, adding that the U.S. “wants to make this a successful transition”.

The remarks by the U.S. official will help Gen. Musharraf, who has kicked off his re-election campaign with meetings with groups of ruling party parliamentarians to rally their support. The President is elected by parliamentarians and provincial legislators.

On Wednesday, he met Pakistan Muslim league (Q) Senate members, and on Thursday he flew to the industrial town of Faisalabad in central Punjab to meet the party’s National Assembly members and Provincial Assembly members from the region.

Parliamentarians present at the meeting said the President reiterated his plan to contest the election in uniform and said it was in accordance with the Constitution.

The PML (Q) is uneasy about supporting an unpopular President, but is also worried about being sidelined by a reported power-sharing deal between him and Pakistan People’s Party leader Benazir Bhutto in the next dispensation.

Opposition parties have said they will oppose Gen. Musharraf’s re-election in the Supreme Court, which is the first in Pakistan’s history not to have good relations with the executive. The opposition parties, especially Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (N), hold that general elections must not be held in a government led by Gen. Musharraf.

Ms. Bhutto, who has admitted to negotiations with Gen. Musharraf for “a transition to democracy”, and a “confidential understanding” with him on the uniform issue, says she is opposed to a military President, and in a third-person way, predicted that the issue would be challenged in court.

Gen. Musharraf told the PML (Q) Senators that he would abide by any verdict of the court on his re-election, and expressed the confidence that the “judiciary and executive would also perform their constitutional role in moving Pakistan forward on the democratic path”.

Mr. Boucher said Gen. Musharraf “has made public commitments that he would address the [uniform] issue in accordance with the Constitution, in accordance with his own transition”, and that the U.S. believes that he would deliver on these commitments.

He also said the U.S. wants to ensure a free and fair election and is helping Pakistan achieve that goal by providing funds and expertise.

He also tried to soothe ruffled feathers in Pakistan over a new U.S. legislation that attaches conditions to financial aid, and said he looked at this as an “opportunity” for the Bush Administration to present periodic reports to Congress about how much Pakistan was doing in the “war on terror”.

He said the U.S.-Pakistan relationship was a “positive one” because “it benefits the people of Pakistan”.

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