US wants emergency lifted for fair polls

WASHINGTON—The United States has said Pakistan is making a historic transition having a civilian head of state and moving towards parliamentary elections as a senior official expressed confidence about lifting of the state of emergency and believed that the South Asian ally can have a crediblepoll that reflects the choices made by its people.
Richard Boucher, the top US official for South Asia,renewed Washington’s commitment to long-term and wide-ranging strategic relationship with Pakistan, and strongly defended US assistance for the “indispensable and key ally” in the fight against terrorism.
Appearing in a congressional testimony, heacknowledged President Pervez Musharraf’s becoming acivilian president and noted that “Pakistan is making a historic transition at this time. They now do have a civilian president. The political party leaders are back and they’re moving towards the election of a civilian prime minister.” Boucher said he believes that President Musharrafwill lift the state of emergency on December 16 as he has pledged, saying the Pakistani leader made good on his vow to remove his military uniform and serve as civilian president and the country can have fair andcredible, if not perfect, election.
“I do think they can have a good election. They canhave a credible election. They can have a transparent election and a fair election,” he stated when asked ifPakistan could have fair elections when PresidentMusharraf lifts the state of emergency.
He told a sub-committee hearing of the influentialSenate Foreign Relations Committee that “making this successful transition to civilian leadership is the best and most solid basis for the nation to go forward— including in ridding itself from the threats andterrorism and extremism.”
The United States, he stated, wants to see Pakistansucceed in its transition to an elected civilian-leddemocracy, to become a moderate, democratic, Muslimnation committed to human rights and the rule of law. “All of our assistance programs are directed toward helping Pakistan achieve these goals. This is a long-term undertaking that will require years to accomplish.”
He said a civilian-led government under a civilianpresident “would indeed be a significant step forward for Pakistani democracy and a major accomplishment for the Pakistani people.”
On US assistance for Pakistan, he said the UnitedStates is seeking to help Pakistanis build aneconomically healthy, stable and democratic Pakistan.
To this end, since 2002 the US has provided economicassistance totaling $2.4 billion dollars. These funds have supported education reform, including training teacher in modern teaching techniques, building schools in the Tribal Areas, providing scholarships and fostering science and technology cooperation between the U.S. and Pakistan.
The State Department, he said, examined assistance programs following imposition of emergency and concluded that imposition of a state of emergency did not at that time trigger any automatic aid cut-offs.
“We believe that maintaining funding levels for Economic Support Funds and Foreign Military Financing is crucial. Doing otherwise would not further our interests with Pakistan at a time when Pakistan plays a critical role in the War on Terrorism and is about to have elections that need to be free, fair, andcredible.”—Agencies