By,Arun Kumar, IANS
Washington : Days after sending a “clear message” to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to lift the emergency rule, US President George W. Bush has offered his strongest support to a defiant but “indispensable” key ally.
The general “hasn’t crossed the line” and “truly is somebody who believes in democracy”, said Bush a day after a top US envoy returned from a failed mission to persuade Musharraf to shed his military uniform and take the democratic path.
The shift in Washington’s stand reflected in Bush’s interview with ABC News Tuesday contrasted with his first public comments on the crisis two weeks ago, when the US president said his aides had bluntly warned Musharraf that his emergency measures “would undermine democracy”.
US Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte, who met Musharraf and also talked to former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto during his trip to Islamabad apparently in a bid to revive a US-brokered power sharing deal between the two, briefed Bush Monday about his mission.
Asked if there is any line Musharraf should not cross, Bush said, “He hasn’t crossed the line. As a matter of fact, I don’t think that he will cross any lines.”
“We didn’t necessarily agree with his decision to impose emergency rule, and … hopefully he’ll get … rid of the rule. Today, I thought, was a pretty good signal, that he released thousands of people from jail,” he said, according to an ABC transcript.
Bush was equally emphatic about the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons from Islamic radicals. “I certainly hope so. We feel pretty comfortable at this moment in time. And of course we’ll pay very close attention to, to any country that has got nuclear weapons. And, but yeah, I feel good about it right now.”
Disputing the suggestion that he has put too much faith in Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup, Bush said, “He’s been a loyal ally in fighting terrorists. He’s also advanced democracy in Pakistan.”
“He has said he’s going to take off his uniform. He’s said there will be elections. Today he released prisoners, and so far I’ve found him to be a man of his word,” the president added.
“And the fundamental question I have for President Musharraf is, will these elections be under emergency rule or law, because if they are, it’s going to be hard for … well, it’ll be hard for those of us who have belief that he’s advanced Pakistan’s democracy to, to say that’s, that’s still the case,” Bush said.
“So, we’ll see. Things are unfolding in Pakistan. But he’s been a strong ally of the United States, and I certainly hope he succeeds,” Bush added responding to the interviewer’s suggestion that elections under the emergency rule would “be a sham”.
Musharraf, Bush said, “has done more for democracy in Pakistan than any modern leader has, and one of the reasons you’re seeing the blowback that you’re getting in Pakistan is because of the reforms that President Musharraf has put in place.
“Are we happy with the emergency rule? No, we’re not. Do we, do I understand how important he is in fighting extremists and radicals? I do. And do I believe that he’s going to end up getting Pakistan back on the road to democracy? I certainly hope so,” he added.
Asked how the situation in Pakistan is different than Myanmar, Bush said: “Pakistan has been on the road to democracy, Burma hadn’t been.”
Several outside analysts and a key Democratic lawmaker expressed incredulity over Bush’s comments and called them a sign of how personally invested the president has become in the US relationship with Musharraf, according to the Washington Post.
“What exactly would it take for the president to conclude Musharraf has crossed the line? Suspend the constitution? Impose emergency law? Beat and jail his political opponents and human rights activists?” asked Joseph R. Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a presidential candidate.
“He’s already done all that. If the president sees Musharraf as a democrat, he must be wearing the same glasses he had on when he looked in Vladimir Putin’s soul,” he was quoted as saying.
Even as the Bush administration has launched a review of its aid to Pakistan, officials have said time and again that they are looking favourably at continuing most economic and military aid, which has surpassed $10 billion since 2001.
Some unnamed officials cited by the Post indicated that the view among many in the administration is that Musharraf may be able to survive the crisis and remain in power.