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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Is the US promoting political reconciliation in Pakistan? |
| 2004-11-20 |
| EFL. Subscription required. When the PMLQ Secretary General Mushahid Hussain demanded in a senate speech the release of political prisoners, Asif Ali Zardari, Javed Hashmi and Yousaf Raza Gilani, most observers were caught by surprise. A US diplomat has told TFT the 'abrupt' proposal was presented with the support and pressure of the US government. The source told TFT that the idea of a 'grand reconciliation' between the government and the opposition was first floated by the US deputy secretary of state, Richard Armitage, in a meeting with President Pervez Musharraf a few months ago. "Making the junta agree to start thinking about the release of these prisoners was not an easy job," said the diplomat. "When Armitage initially presented the proposal before Musharraf, he [Musharraf] was quite unenthusiastic and unsympathetic. In fact, Musharraf actually pleaded with the Americans that he did not have the power to force Pakistani courts to release them," the diplomat added. "At that time, the deputy secretary did not feel the need to get into a long debate with Musharraf over the issue of the prisoners' release," said the source. "Washington's priorities were different then." According to the source, now that America is feeling content and has realised that sufficient amount of work has been done in the war on terrorism, it is more concerned about the state of democracy in Pakistan. "There is definitely US pressure on the government," admits an official in the know of things. Apparently, Washington wants Musharraf to open the space for opposition parties and that is only possible if the government takes some confidence building measures as Senator Hussain mentioned in his speech. The Bush administration realises that its talk about promoting democracy in the Muslim world does not sit well if it has close links with undemocratic or quasi-democratic regimes. "This means we need to expend more effort now to convince Musharraf to take a political course that is inclusive," says the diplomat. "The issue of 'political victimisation' in Pakistan is a source of embarrassment for the Bush administration, especially when it has to defend Pakistan before other nations. This is why the issue of releasing political prisoners was made a part of the classified official working papers prepared by the US authorities at the time of the talks between Armitage and Pakistani leaders and officials." |
| Posted by:Paul Moloney |