President promised US to lift emergency in 15 days
ISLAMABAD: President General Pervez Musharraf informed the US in advance that he needed 15 days to ‘clean up the mess’ by imposing an extra-constitutional emergency, a diplomatic source privy to the conversation told The News here on Thursday.
According to the source, there were strings of meetings going on between the government and the Islamabad-based US diplomats on the issue of emergency. The source, however, said that the US kept pressing the Presidency not to impose it but the advice went unheard.
“Just give me 15 days. I need to clean up the mess (of judiciary) through some extra-constitutional steps,” a diplomatic source quoted Musharraf as telling the US officials. According to the source, the US embassy’s senior officials posted in provincial capitals had started assembling in Islamabad a week prior to the imposition of emergency and held meetings with top Pakistani officials on the issue.
The source said the diplomatic efforts, however, failed to yield results as Musharraf went ahead with his plan but promised that he would lift the emergency in two weeks. The source was, however, not sure whether Musharraf would keep his word.
Asked if the US gave him an NOC for imposing this extra-constitutional step after he promised 15-day time to end it, the source denied the impression. He said the US could just press him but not force him to honor their wishes.
A spokesperson of the US embassy neither denied nor confirmed Musharraf’s commitment of 15 days and said it would be unfair for them to reveal the contents of the conversation that took place on the issue.
“We are not going to reveal his conversation,” press attache Elizabeth Colton told The News on telephone. She said it was up to Musharraf to comment what was said or not and that “we could only comment upon what we had asked.”
“You will have to ask him (Musharraf) for his words,” she said. Musharraf’s spokesman, Rashid Qureshi, could not be approached. Several phone calls were made to take his version but he did not return the calls.
Elizabeth said as far as the US viewpoint on the issue of emergency was concerned, it was against any extra-constitutional step and had opposed any such move. “Even after the imposition of emergency, we are pressing for the release of human rights activists, lawyers and other people. We are also demanding the lifting of sanctions on media,” she said and added that the US was strongly supportive of restoration of democracy in Pakistan.
She, however, confirmed that the senior US diplomats posted in Lahore and Karachi also arrived in Islamabad days before the imposition of emergency. She said as there were rumors making round of the capital about the emergency, the US diplomats held a strings of meetings with Pakistani officials in a bid to persuade them against the emergency.
President Musharraf has said that he would hear what the US had to say but would do what he thought was in the best interest of Pakistan. He told his political allies on Wednesday that he could not have taken extra-constitutional steps had he acted upon the advice of the US.
Source: The News
Date:11/9/2007
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