 Pakistan yesterday rejected a US criticism of its human rights record, asserting that the rights situation in the country has improved.
"You've got to admit it's getting better,
It's getting better all the time..." |
It pointed out that no country world has a "perfect" record.
| ... though some are more imperfect than others... |
"The important thing is to see the kind of efforts being made by Pakistan to improve the human rights situation," Foreign Office spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani said, commenting on a US State Department annual report released on Monday. The report said the human rights record of Pakistan, which is a pivotal US ally in the war on terror, remained "poor".
| Could it have something to do with all the corpses? |
"Improving the human rights situation is certainly a matter of high priority for the government," Jilani said. "The improvement graph is certainly getting better," the spokesman said.
| "The cadaver stacks aren't nearly as high as they used to be..." |
The State Department report said: "The United States believes that the success of Pakistan's democratisation efforts is critical to the strength of our long-term relationship and will positively contribute to its effective participation in the global war on terrorism."
| ... or it could degenerate again to the point of being even more of a stench and a pestilence... |
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her visit to Islamabad earlier this month said she had asked President Pervez Musharraf to keep on the path to democracy and hold free and fair elections in 2007. She however avoided comment on Musharraf's decision to remain in uniform after the parliamentary majority authorised him to do so in the national interest. On her return the United States announced its move to sell F16 fighter jets to Pakistan, while offering to provide F18 jets to India. Human rights groups in Pakistan and the opposition political parties have criticised the United States for being soft on the military's continued hold on power through a president in uniform to the detriment of the democratic process in the country. The government insists democracy is functioning with parliament and provincial assemblies in place and the opposition alliance of six religious parties ruling one of the four provinces and sharing power in another. |