US uses double-barrelled diplomacy in Pakistan

Islamabad, June 16: Senior US officials held talks with President Pervez Musharraf today, having stressed Washington's desire to see free and fair elections later this year, and an expectation he will quit as army chief.

Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher met Musharraf against the backdrop of a brewing political crisis over the president's move to sack the country's top judge.

Admiral William J Fallon, chief of the US Central Command, was scheduled for a later meeting with General Musharraf, who gained power in a coup eight years ago and became a crucial ally in the fight against al Qaeda and a Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.

Having arrived days in advance of the others, Boucher has done most of the talking in Pakistan, where Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry is fighting against his dismissal and has become a symbol of resistance to Musharraf.

The judiciary, the independent media, and opposition parties have rallied to Chaudhry's cause, and he has drawn support from tens of thousands of people in trips around the country to meet lawyers and judges.

Chaudhry set off by road today for the industrial city of Faisalabad in central Punjab province, where more huge crowds were expected to greet him.' A day earlier, Boucher told four Pakistani television channels that the prevalent viewpoint in the US government was that it ''is time for Pakistan to move back to democratic elections and civilian rule''.

Controversially, Musharraf aims to be re-elected, probably while still army chief, by the current assemblies before they are dissolved in November for a general election around the turn of the year.

Motivated By Fear

Analysts believe Musharraf's attempt to replace the chief justice is motivated by fear Chaudhry would allow constitutional challenges to any move to be re-elected in uniform by the present assemblies.

Boucher, who has responsibility for South and Central Asia, gave Washington's view of the unfolding situation, and laid emphasis on the need for an election people could trust, rather than how soon Musharraf became a civilian president.

''The President has said he would deal with this matter of two jobs in accordance to the constitution as part of the election process. We take him at his word that he will do that.'' ''I don't believe that the whole issue of the election rises and falls on whether or not, or when President Musharraf carries out whatever is appropriate under the constitution with regard to the two jobs,'' Boucher said.

''The issue of a free and fair election is much more fundamental than that.'' Widespread allegations of rigging accompanied the last elections in 2002.

Asked whether part of his mission was to broke a deal between Musharraf and self-exiled, ex-premier Benazir Bhutto, Boucher was unspecific, but said the United States encouraged parties to come together to ''stabilise the centre of Pakistani politics''.

Reuters>