By Arun Kumar, IANS
Washington : Democrat US presidential hopeful Barack Obama has co-sponsored a Senate resolution asking Washington to make a concerted effort to ensure Pakistan returns to the democratic path in the wake of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination.
Introduced by the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joseph R. Biden, the resolution calls on President George W. Bush to review all US aid to Pakistan to ensure that all assistance is being used to promote democracy and prevent the rise of violent fundamentalism in Pakistan.
Besides Obama, the resolution is co-sponsored by Senate majority leader Harry Reid and six other Democratic senators, Max Baucus, Dick Durbin, Tom Harkin, Robert Casey, Robert Menendez, and Dianne Feinstein. It also calls for an independent investigation into the murder of the former Pakistan prime minister and asks Islamabad to ensure free and fair elections without further delays.
“She gave her life to uphold democracy, moderation and social justice in Pakistan and we must find out who was behind this and bring those responsible to justice,” Biden said.
“Pakistan stands at a critical juncture. We must all work together to ensure that it returns to a stable democracy as quickly as possible,” he said asking President Pervez Musharraf’s government to release all political detainees, revoke restrictions on the press and free speech and restore a genuinely independent judiciary.
“The assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Dec 27, 2007 was a political thunderbolt and those of us who knew her personally have shared the loss felt by Pakistanis of all political outlooks,” said Biden.
“In the wake of this shocking act of terrorism, Pakistani democracy remains seriously threatened. This is not merely a matter of concern to Pakistan, but to the United States as well.
“Until the political crisis in Pakistan is resolved, no government in Islamabad will have the focus, the will, or the military and intelligence resources necessary to combat the threat of Al Qaeda terrorism and Taliban insurgency effectively,” said.
Meanwhile, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the US viewed the Scotland Yard investigation into Bhutto murder “as a credible investigation by independent outside experts” and did not have any reason to “question the validity of their assessment”.
“Well, certainly, I understand that this is an emotional issue, both for members of her family as well as for the many people in Pakistan who supported Benazir Bhutto,” he said when asked to comment on the Bhutto family’s continued demand for an independent investigation.
He’d leave it to Scotland Yard to “talk about both the conclusions that they’ve drawn as well as the limitations on some of the evidence they had to view,” Casey said. “But we don’t have any reason why we would question the validity of their assessment.”
Asked if it meant that the US didn’t think that there should be an independent investigation perhaps led by the UN, he said: “Certainly, it’s important for people to feel that they have a clear understanding of what happened.”
But, “we aren’t proposing anything particular, though, and I think it would be up to the Pakistanis to decide whether they felt they needed more review or investigation of this beyond what Scotland Yard and the Pakistani authorities have already done,” Casey said.
Asked about reports that opposition leader Imran Khan was turned out of Karachi by Pakistani authorities, the spokesman said he had no confirmation from its embassy in Islamabad.
But “I think as a general principle, as we work through the process between now and the election, we want to see everyone be able to peacefully express their views and travel wherever they would wish within Pakistan.
“That certainly would generally be a right that the country of Pakistan should accord to all its citizens,” Casey said.
On the issue of differences between Washington and Islamabad over a new peace agreement with the local Taliban in tribal areas of Pakistan, the spokesman said a previous agreement by all accounts, including Musharraf’s “didn’t work.”
“And certainly, we wouldn’t want to see any other kind of arrangement made unless we had an understanding of how it would be effective in carrying out our common goals here,” Casey said describing it as “a fight that’s not a US fight or an international community fight. It’s Pakistan’s as well”.
The US has been working very well with Islamabad on these issues, “but we certainly wouldn’t want to see any kind of agreements made that would provide an opportunity for militants to either rearm or otherwise continue to engage in cross-border activities or do anything else that would undermine our common goals,” he said.