 A senior U.S. envoy pressed President Pervez Musharraf today to lift a harsh emergency decree, move Pakistan toward civilian rule and reconcile with opposition leader Benazir Bhutto. The general, however, defended his actions, saying he had acted in the interests of democracy.
| "Dat's right. Dere ain't nuttin' better for creatin' democracy dan roundin' people up an' tossin' 'em in da slammer!" |
A senior Pakistani official said Musharraf told Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte that amid an intensifying Islamic insurgency, emergency measures were needed to ensure that January parliamentary elections could be held safely.
| Ask him how many Islamists he tossed in jug, John. |
Musharraf's two-hour meeting with Negroponte represented the most urgent U.S. warning appeal to date for the Pakistani leader to end the 2-week-old state of emergency, considered by most observers to be de facto martial law.
"Marvin! What's that I hear quacking?"
"It's a duck, sir."
"It walks kinda funny, though."
"Sir, that's the way ducks walk."
"So what should we call it?"
"Let's call it a spade, sir."
"Good idea." |
Opposition leaders have said a free and fair vote is impossible while the decree remains in place.
| The vote would be a lot freer and fairer if everybody wasn't either in jug or at the dentist. |
Negroponte made no immediate public statement after his day of talks with Musharraf and other senior Pakistani government and military officials.
"I'm speechless."
"He can say no more!" |
He instead planned to hold a news conference early Sunday before leaving the Pakistani capital.
| Right. It's gonna be carried on GEO TV. |
U.S. officials had said in advance of the talks that Musharraf would be urged to set a date for ending emergency rule as well as for stepping down as chief of the military, and to release activists jailed since the crackdown began.
| And to kick in for new bridgework for them. |
The United States is in a delicate position, on the one hand wanting to encourage democratic rule but on the other remaining wary of any action that could destabilize Pakistan. The nuclear-armed nation has been considered a cesspool crucial U.S. ally against the Taliban and Al Qaeda. |
