US faces emergency hurdle in Pakistan
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The Bush administration on Wednesday took heart in Pakistan leader Pervez Musharraf's decision to take off his uniform but still faced the dilemma of what to do if the chief ally on the "war on terror" went into January elections under a state of emergency.
President George W. Bush and his chief diplomat Condoleezza Rice welcomed Musharraf's resignation as military chief, but urged him to lift emergency rule to pave the way for free and fair elections.
"In my judgment, in order to get Pakistan back on the road to democracy, he's got to suspend the emergency law before elections," Bush told CNN television in an interview.
But Bush praised Musharraf, 64, as "an absolute reliable partner in dealing with extremists and radicals" and hailed his decision to bow to international pressure and quit as army chief to end eight years of military rule.
"It is something that a lot of people doubted would ever happen. And he told me he would take off his uniform, and I appreciate that, that he kept his word," said the US president.
Musharraf will be sworn in as civilian president on Thursday, his second five-year term as leader of the nuclear-armed nation regarded as a crucial US ally in the fight against Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.
Top US officials have said that Washington has been in contact with Musharraf, prodding him to ensure that parliamentary elections he called for on January 8 were credible by lifting the crackdown he imposed November 3.
"If he had his way, Musharraf would not lift the state of emergency, especially now that he is no longer military chief and is therefore far more vulnerable than before," said Stratfor, a US intelligence firm.
"But Musharraf cannot have his way. Washington is pressuring him to restore a semblance of normalcy to Pakistan so the war against the jihadists can proceed unhindered," the firm said in a commentary.
It also said that the Bush administration had realized there were "limits to which pre-November 3 circumstances can be restored" in Pakistan.
Washington had provided aid to the tune of some 10 billion dollars since 2001 to Pakistan, much of it for the military.
Rice said Musharraf's uniform shedding was "a good first step" but quickly pointed out that "the most stabilizing thing will be to have free and fair elections so that Pakistan can stay and return to a democratic path."
In an indication that Musharraf was directly told to lift the emergency rule, Rice told NBC Television, "Look, we are talking with the Pakistanis about this. I'm not going to talk about the details of those conversations."
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack added: "It's still our hope that President Musharraf will do that."
Pakistan's attorney general Malik Muhammad Qayyum had said that the emergency would be lifted "very soon" but did not give a date.
The opposition maintains that Musharraf's October 6 re-election as president was illegal, claiming he imposed emergency rule to purge the Supreme Court of hostile judges who threatened to overturn his victory.
Calls have intensified for the release of all political detainees, lifting of media curbs and a resinstatement of the 1973 constitution.
With elections just about five weeks way, "it is necessary that emergency rule be lifted immediately and not just two days before that," Lisa Curtis, a former senior State Department advisor on South Asian affairs, said.
She rejected any notion that the departure from the military by Musharraf, who became a frontline US ally in the war on terrorism after the US terror attacks of September 11, 2001, could set back counterterrorism efforts.
Musharraf's hand-picked military successor, General Ashfaq Kiyani, is "well known" to US officials and "is respected for his professionalism and counterinsurgency efforts," said Curtis, who also once worked as an analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency.
