Guarded response from U.S. to Pak. poll timetable

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, AUG. 15. The Bush administration has been guarded in its response to the announcement of the election timetable in Pakistan. While on the one hand the State Department welcomed the promise of the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, to go ahead with elections in October 2002, Washington will like to know more details.

At the State Department, the spokesman, Mr. Philip Reeker, argued that the administration wanted to know if elections would be party-based and what role Gen. Musharraf was going to have in the process. The administration is raising this as the announcement did not mention if political parties will be participating in the polls.

``We are very pleased that the Pakistan President, Gen. Musharraf, confirmed his commitment to hold provincial and national elections within the Pakistan Supreme Court's three-year deadline. Restoration of the democratic civilian rule is critical to Pakistan's political and economic development,'' Mr. Reeker observed.

But the spokesman went on to note that Gen. Musharraf's announcement ``did not provide more details ... including whether provincial and parliamentary elections would be party-based ... and what would be the role of the President and the National Security Council ... we look forward very much to additional information that clarify some of those issues''.

In the last several days, administration officials while talking about the issue of sanctions against South Asia have made it pretty clear that there is no linkage between India and Pakistan. What is also being made plain is that when it comes to Pakistan, some of the sanctions are democracy related and hence cannot be done away with unless there is a Presidential certification to Congress to that effect.

The Bush administration's remarks on sanctions vis-a-vis South Asia and Pakistan has to be seen in the context of repeated statements by Pakistani officials here that there would have to be some sort of simultaneity -- that sanctions against India alone cannot be eased. Washington has taken the position that this need not be the case as the situation with respect to India is different.

Mr. Musharraf's announcement on elections has another dimension as well -- whether he is laying the groundwork for a possible meeting with the U.S. President, Mr. George W. Bush, in New York at the time of the United Nations gathering next month. One perception is that a formal one-on-one may not be on the cards; the question is if there would be a brief "aside" meeting as part of a larger gathering, the U.S. President would attend along with other world leaders.

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Section  : International
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