By NNN-APP
Washington : Two key US senators, who witnessed Pakistan’s widely hailed polls last week, have clarified their reported remarks regarding President Pervez Musharraf’s political position, saying they never called for the Pakistani leader to step down.
Democratic Senator Joseph Biden and Republican Chuck Hagel, who travelled to Pakistan as part of a three-member Congressional observer delegation for February 18 election, opposed any notion of presidential impeachment by the new parliament and also made a particular note of the Pakistani leader’s avowed role in the transition period.
Senator Joseph Biden, who heads the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee, asked to expand on his reported remarks in PBS channel’s News Hour urged a forward looking approach by the parties in the transition phase.
“What we all three have been saying is that if, in fact, he’s treated with some respect by the parties that are forming the government, that I believe that he will, in fact, step back from the exercise of the kind of power he’s tried to exercise.”
The legislator from Delaware also addressed the question Tuesday at a press conference on the Hill, saying he did not call for the Pakistani leader to relinquish.
“I’ve been reported to have said that I called for him to step down. That’s not what I said,” he contradicted
Continuing, he explained, if treated with respect, the president will “gracefully drawback, meaning- not attempt to exercise the role of the prime minister, but exercise the role of the president. And so that’s what I mean when I say the transition is under way.”
In the Public Broadcasting Service programme, Biden said the Pakistani leader “made it pretty clear to us that he understood that his role as president.”
“And the point I’ve been making—and all of us, actually, have been making—is that this is a transitional moment. The parties should look forward, not backward.”
Biden added that President Musharraf “made it clear to us he thought the parliament should make the decisions now that it was elected.”
Hagel, who was part of the delegation that also included Democratic Senator John Kerry, said he “didn’t ever call for him (Musharraf) to resign.”
“My goodness, what I said yesterday—go back and check the record on CNN—is that, first, the leaders who will form a new government, a coalition government, will need to work this through. Certainly, it’s up to them, the Pakistani people, represented by their leaders,” he told the same programme.
The senior lawmaker from Nebraska stated that President Musharraf accepted the election and felt confident and comfortable when the delegation met him morning after the polls.
“As to Musharraf, when we met with him, we met with him the morning after the election. He had accepted those results. I thought he was very confident; I thought he was very comfortable.”
Hagel also acknowledged Musharraf’s vital role as an ally in the fight against terrorism, both in the interest of his country and the world.
“So I in no way want the record to show anything but what I’ve said about how important Musharraf’s been, and he deserves that kind of respect, because he— let’s not forget here. After September 11, 2001, Musharraf became a very important ally to us and at his political risk, his own risk here.”