US denies any shift in policy to Musharraf's govt

Washington, June 16: The Bush administration has denied any shift in the US policy towards Pakistan, calling President Pervez Musharraf an ''agent for positive change not only in the region but for Pakistan''.

''You know, our view is that Pakistan is a modernising state.

It is a state that is committed to economic and political reforms, and President Musharraf is the one who has led that way,'' State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said, in reply to a question yesterday.

He, however, said, ''where there are issues, for example, with the media restrictions that he (Gen Musharraf) intended to put in place, we have issues with that. Both in public and private, we talk to him about it. He has taken the step of rescinding those restrictions, which we think is a positive move.'' Clarifying his earlier statement, McCormack said Gen Musharraf himself had pledged to resolve the ''issue of the uniform and holding civilian office. I was only repeating, you know, what he had said.'' He said, ''It's not a condition of the United States. It's a self-imposed condition by President Musharraf.'' ''And as for Pakistani elections,'' the US spokesman pointed out, ''ultimately it's going to be up to the Pakistani people to decide when those elections are held, how they are held and all that goes on around them.'' McCormack said the United States was calling for ''free, fair and transparent elections so that the will of the Pakistani is reflected in the results.'' ''But ultimately, these are decisions for the Pakistani people,'' he said.

He recalled that Pakistan in 2001 was a country that was ''headed in a very negative direction and we saw some of the results of that, and you had the growth of violent extremism within that country as it served as a transit point for Afghanistan. And the Pakistanis more than anybody else recognise this, so they have more at stake than anybody.'' ''And it is a country that is headed in the right direction in terms of its reforms. They are going to define for themselves the pace at which that happens. But we're going to be right there with them as a partner, as long as they continue along that track,'' he said.

In reply to another question, McCormack, aid, ''there are differences of opinion in Pakistan over the handling of the case of the chief justice, and those are going to be worked out within the context of Pakistani politics and specifically with the Justice Chaudhry within the confines of Pakistani law and their own constitution.'' ''This is what you see in a political system that is beginning to open up, and that is positive, that people are free to express their opinions,'' he added.

UNI