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You cannot talk with irreconcilable elements, says Negroponte

ISLAMABAD: U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte made it clear on Thursday that his government did not share the optimism of the new rulers of Pakistan that the extremist threat facing the country could be resolved through talks with pro-Taliban militants.

Mr. Negroponte said: “Security measures obviously are necessary when one is dealing with irreconcilable elements who want to destroy our very way of life.”

“You cannot talk with these kinds of people,” Mr. Negroponte said at a press conference in Karachi, but he added there were also “reconcilable elements in any of these situations who hopefully can be persuaded to participate in the democratic political process.”

The U.S. official, accompanied by Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday. The two have already held talks with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani, Pakistan People’s Party leader Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) leader Nawaz Sharif besides President Pervez Musharraf and a host of officials in the Foreign Ministry and the North-West Frontier Province.

The PML (N) leader said he had told Mr. Negroponte that Pakistan’s policies vis-À-vis the U.S.-led “war on terror” would be reviewed by Parliament, and that policy would henceforth be made in consultation with all parties in the National Assembly.

Mr. Sharif said while Pakistanis wanted to see “every country, every city in the world” free of terrorism, their own could not be turned into a “killing field” in the process.

The secular Awami National Party, which has come to power in the North-West Frontier Province, has expressed willingness to talk to the militants. In a telephone conversation with U.S. President George Bush after being sworn in, Mr. Gillani called for an approach that combined political solutions with development programmes in the frontier regions.

The visit by the U.S. officials has drawn much flak from the Pakistani media that has questioned the “indecent haste” with which the Bush administration dispatched the duo to Islamabad.

Commenting on “American impatience,” the Dawn said the visit, even before the new Prime Minister had been sworn in and before a new Cabinet could be formed, smacked of “diplomatic impropriety.”

The newspaper demanded that the U.S. give time for the new government to settle in, and said Washington’s “overt involvement in the war on Pakistan’s soil” had fuelled anti-American sentiment, and questioned if the two officials had sought any “assurances” relating to Pakistan’s internal matters from the coalition.

“The people have also had to suffer the wrath of the militants who identify the state with the Americans. A discreet stance on the part of the U.S. might prove to be slightly more helpful,” the newspaper said.

The News called for an end to the White House “meddling” in Pakistan’s affairs.

“Its new leaders must be allowed to devise their own strategies without attempts at long-distance dictation or remote-controlled operations,” the newspaper said.

Mr. Negroponte said in Karachi that he had “no hidden agenda” and his visit had been planned six weeks ago. The Pakistan Foreign Ministry also said the visit had been fixed much earlier but admitted that “suggestions” had been made to the U.S. State Department that the timing of the visit might be awkward given the transition.

Mr. Negroponte denied he had come to Pakistan to “rescue” Gen. Musharraf, whose political isolation is now increasingly apparent,

“He is of course President of the country. Any debate ... with regard to the issue of his status is something that will have to be addressed by the internal Pakistani political process,” the Deputy Secretary said. “We will certainly respect whatever is decided in that regard,” he said.

Mr. Negroponte said the U.S. had “certainly no desire to interfere or intervene in any way in political arrangements which are developing.”

The absence of U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson during Mr. Negroponte’s visit has intrigued observers. Ms. Patterson hectic meetings with the winners of the elections in the days after the results were announced also drew plenty of adverse comment. She is reported to have flown home for a scheduled private visit on Monday, the day the two officials arrived here.

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