US denies micromanaging Pakistan politics
Washington, Oct 12 (UNI) State Department spokesman Tom Casey has said he would ''certainly take exception to the idea that the United States is somehow stage-managing, guiding or otherwise telling Pakistanis how to run their own internal affairs.'' ''My limited knowledge of both the President of Pakistan (Pervez Musharraf) as well as with key opposition figures is, that I don't think we'd be particularly successful if we tried to somehow impose a decision on either of them,'' he said yesterday.
Casey made these observations, during his press briefing, when his attention was drawn to reports in the Pakistani media about US State Department trying to micromanage things in Pakistan.
A recent Pakistani report said that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and President Musharraf to talk about the deal that the two had now finalised.
When
asked
whether
Secretary
Rice
had
a
conversation
with
Benazir
Bhutto
or
Musharraf
this
week,
Casey,
in
reply
said,
''I'm
not
sure
when
was
the
last
time
she
spoke
with
President
Musharraf.
But
certainly,
she
has
in
the
past
and
she
always
conveys
to
him
our
understanding
of
what
we'd
like
to
see
happen
and
encourages
him
to
move
forward
in
terms
of
the
democratic
developments
of
the
country.''
Casey
said,
''the
decisions
on
Pakistan's
political
future
are
going
to
made
by
Pakistanis.''
He,
however,
said,
''we
certainly
have
a
clear
and
consistent
message
in
our
conversations,
whether
it's
with
government
officials
or
opposition
officials,
and
that's
that
we
share
the
vision
for
Pakistan's
future
that's
been
laid
out
by
President
Musharraf
and
others:
Pakistan
as
a
peaceful,
democratic,
moderate
Islamic
state
and
one
that
works
with
us
to
be
able
to
fight
extremism
and
terrorism.''
UNI