WASHINGTON (AFP) — Senior US diplomat John Negroponte may be headed on a collision course with President Pervez Musharraf's government when he travels to Islamabad this week to urge an end to emergency rule.
Negroponte will meet senior Pakistani officials when he arrives at the end of the week to press Musharraf to lift the state of emergency imposed on November 3, State Department spokesman Tom Casey told reporters Tuesday.
Negroponte, deputy to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, will be the highest-ranking US official to visit Islamabad since the turmoil erupted.
The visit comes amid friction between Washington and its key ally in the war on terror. In an interview with The New York Times, Musharraf rejected calls by Rice to rescind the emergency measures.
"I totally disagree with her," Musharraf was quoted as saying. "The emergency is to ensure elections go in an undisturbed manner." He said Sunday that parliamentary elections would be held by January 9.
The US government argues that the push for democracy is the best way to ensure stability in Pakistan, a nuclear-armed Muslim country that is a frontline US ally in the war against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
Casey told reporters he expected Negroponte to echo demands for a return to constitutional rule made by President George W. Bush and Rice.
"We continue to want to see elections move forward, and move forward in a free, fair and transparent manner," Casey said. "We want to see the emergency decree lifted."
Bush told the Fox Business Network in an interview that he hoped Musharraf would end a state of emergency and hold elections soon while remaining a staunch ally in the war on terrorism.
"He understands the stakes of the war, and I do believe he understands the importance of democracy," Bush said.
The US president, who described the unrest in Pakistan as "an ever-changing situation," noted that he had urged Musharraf by telephone one week ago to lift the state of emergency, hold elections, and quit as army chief.
"He's agreed to hold elections in January, and he's agreed to take his uniform off. And our judgment is that the sooner he can suspend his emergency decree, the faster Pakistan gets back on the road to democracy," he said.
Casey did not confirm whether Negroponte would meet Musharraf when he visits Islamabad following his current tour of Africa.
Casey dismissed the idea that Negroponte is a special envoy, after The New York Times said Bush was sending a special envoy to personally tell Musharraf that Washington wants emergency rule lifted ahead of January elections.
The newspaper, citing unnamed administration officials, did not identify the envoy or indicate when the emissary would travel.
Publicly the Bush administration continues to support Musharraf, seen as the best deterrent against Al-Qaeda in Pakistan. "Nobody is ready to cut him off at the knees yet," an unnamed US official told the Times.
But many administration members worry that Musharraf's moves are eroding his support so badly that he could be forced to surrender power, the official told the Times.
The United States and Britain had quietly supported power-sharing talks between Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto, the former premier and Musharraf political rival, in a bid to unite two pro-Western leaders in the battle against militants.
But such hopes appear to have been dashed when Bhutto, whose party is the largest opposition group in Pakistan, called on Musharraf to quit as president and vowed never to serve under him.
Bhutto also called on the international community to "stop backing the man whose dictatorship threatens to engulf this nuclear-armed state in chaos."
Casey said it was unlikely that Negroponte, who is only scheduled to visit Islamabad, would see Bhutto, who is now under house arrest in the city of Lahore, while gently calling for her release.
"Clearly we want to see her be able to move freely and conduct her activities as she sees fit," he added.
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