By Muhammad Najeeb, IANS
Islamabad : US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte Saturday called on President Pervez Musharraf to discuss the tense political situation in Pakistan including the general’s pledge to shed his uniform, officials said.
“The US official and the president discussed in detail the emergency (rule imposed Nov 3),” said the official, though no statement was given by either side after the two-hour meeting.
The Pakistani official said Negroponte stayed at the president’s camp office in nearby Rawalpindi for about two hours and discussed political and strategic issues.
Musharraf explained why emergency had become inevitable in Pakistan and that the situation in the country vis-à-vis terrorism was improving after emergency was declared.
Musharraf is under tremendous pressure from the US and other Western states to lift emergency and end restrictions on the media.
Instead of doing that, Musharraf reportedly pressurised the authorities in the United Arab Emirates and managed to close down Pakistan’s popular TV channel GEO, which was operating from Dubai.
Official sources said Negroponte also took up the issue of media restrictions and the arrest of opposition leaders.
Negroponte later drove to Islamabad where he met Foreign Minister Inamul Haq. He also met vice chief of the army staff, General Ashfaq Kiani, and discussed the ongoing war on terrorism.
The US official arrived in Pakistan Friday evening and met former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who has launched a campaign against Musharraf seeking an end to his dictatorship.
Bhutto told reporters that she had conveyed her concerns regarding the new caretaker set-up to Negroponte. She said she also briefed him on the treatment meted out to the opposition parties and the media.
“This is the time the West should work with Pakistan and not with Musharraf,” she said.