The United States will offer Pakistan’s beleaguered leadership strong public support today when a high-level delegation arrives for two days of “strategic” talks with President Musharraf.
Two days after the General ordered the deportation of the former Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, the US Deputy Secretary of State, John Negroponte, will open discussions with the military leader at the head of a delegation representing several US government departments.
America considered cancelling or postponing the visit after the deportation, but decided to press on as a show of support. The timing is being interpreted by many Pakistanis as proof that Washington will not drop its support for General Musharraf while he remains a key ally in its War on Terror.
The increasingly unpopular Pakistani President, who seized power in a coup eight years ago, faced a fresh challenge from the Supreme Court yesterday. Mr Sharif’s supporters filed a petition challenging the decision to expel him to Saudi Arabia.
“We will fight this battle in the court of law,” Hamza Sharif, Mr Sharif’s nephew, said outside the court. “We are fully confident that we will win, God willing.” The challenge could harm General Musharraf, who used the security forces to arrest Mr Sharif and thousands of his supporters when he tried to re-enter Pakistan on Monday. The decision to deport Mr Sharif was in contravention of a ruling by the Supreme Court last month that he had an “inalienable right” to return to his country.
The deportation drew criticism from Britain and the European Union, which said that the President should respect the law.Washington’s response was more guarded. Gordon Johndroe, a national security spokesman, described the crisis as “an internal matter for the Pakistanis to deal with”. America regards General Musharraf as the best leader available to deal with Pakistan’s Islamic militants, who are allied to the Taleban and are accused of sheltering Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders believed to be hiding in the rugged tribal region along the border with Afghanistan.
The precarious situation in the region was highlighted yesterday when a suicide bomber near the city of Peshawar exploded a device on a minibus, killing as many as 17 people, most of them civilians.
Mr Negroponte, who was until recently America’s intelligence chief, will raise the threat of terrorism when he opens talks with the general today. He will be accompanied by senior security officials, including Dell Dailey, the State Department’s coordinator for counter-terrorism.
Persuading the Pakistani leader to concentrate on security could be difficult, however, as he battles for his political survival. Analysts believe that General Musharraf will do everything in his power to stop Mr Sharif from returning before a presidential election, due to be held by October 15, and parliamentary polls, due by mid-January.
The Supreme Court is almost certain to rule in Mr Sharif’s favour, because it has been in confrontation with General Musharraf since he unsuccessfully tried to sack the Chief Justice in March. The court is also considering petitions challenging the President’s right to hold simultaneously the posts of army chief and head of state and his eligibility to stand for re-election in the upcoming elections.
The President has been widely criticised in the Pakistani press after the deportation of Mr Sharif. “The system is based on the crutches of a uniformed president, and the day that these crutches are removed the present political system will collapse,” said Nawa-I-Waqt, an Urdu newspaper.
No comments:
Post a Comment