‘No assurances on Kashmir, defence’: Opposition leaders disappointed
By Ahmed Hassan
ISLAMABAD, March 4: Leaders of opposition and a broad spectrum of public opinion leaders on Saturday expressed disappointment over the outcome of the US president’s visit to Islamabad and said that expectations of solid assurances on Kashmir, nuclear energy package or a defence deal remained unfulfilled.
People’s Party Parliamentarians president and ARD chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim termed Mr Bush’s visit to Islamabad an informal one and said the US president was originally scheduled to visit India to sign historic agreements. “Pakistan came on his itinerary by chance”.
He said that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and US Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns had already stated that the US government would not offer civilian nuclear technology to Pakistan and that had been confirmed by Mr Bush in his joint press conference with General Musharraf.
The basic purpose of President Bush’s visit, he claimed, was to hunt down Al Qaeda operatives and to urge Pakistan to expedite the arrest of Osama bin Laden. The opposition leader asserted that the US president was still dissatisfied with whatever services Pakistan had rendered in its war on terrorism.
The PPP leader expressed strong reservations about President Musharraf’s statement in which he had boasted of introducing “essence of democracy” in Pakistan. The fact remained that it was General Musharraf who had derailed democracy by removing a democratically-elected government in 1999.
He blamed the general for rigging local government elections to safeguard his own political gains besides manipulating the 2002 general polls to perpetuate his unconstitutional rule. He noted that political leaders had been bribed for the passing of the 17th constitutional amendment.
He ridiculed General Musharraf’s for insisting that he was abiding by the constitution while keeping the post of army chief and said the general may not hold any of the two offices beyond 2007.
Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal president Qazi Hussain Ahmed said the duplicity of the US president had become evident when he offered nuclear cooperation to India.
In a statement issued from Lahore he said, on the one hand the US was opposing Iran’s peaceful nuclear programme while on the other it was offering concessions to India despite its not being a signatory to NPT and in violation of its own laws.
He said Gen Musharraf’s request to President Bush to help resolve the Kashmir issue was a big mistake as the US president would never play a neutral role and instead he would try to put Kashmir in India’s lap by changing the status of the Line of Control and turn it into a permanent border.
Iqbal Zafar Jhagra of the PML (Nawaz group) and ARD’s secretary-general said genuine democracy could not be restored as long as the US continued to support a military dictator.
He also berated the American president for having double standards and said it was applying one standard of democracy for Pakistan in presence of a president in uniform, adding that it was a situation which was impossible in his own country.
He said that Pakistan’s image had been tarnished by the US president’s visit, adding that despite enjoying the status of strategic partner, Pakistan had been ditched while unprecedented favours had been showered upon India.
Mr Jhagra regretted that Pakistan had been abandoned desite its being a front-line state in the US-led war on terror and said that the biggest ridicule that had been dumped on Pakistan’s doorsteps was President Bush’s remarks about continuing infiltration form Pakistan’s side.
Deputy secretary-general of the MMA Liaquat Baloch said that opposition’s stance had been vindicated by President Bush’s visit and called upon General Musharraf to step down after what he termed total failure as far as the country’s foreign and defence policies were concerned.
He said termed the US president’s visit most disappointing and said Prresident Bush had left Islamabad out in the cold on the Kashmir issue while giving a clear edge to India over Pakistan in bilateral dealings.
Aitzaz Ahsan, a veteran PPP leader, said that President Bush’s visit had illustrated the urgent need for reshaping Pakistan’s foreign policy by removing the extraordinary dependence on American aid and concessions and a rejection to succumb to its dictation.
Contrary to political leaders’ opinion, federal Information minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed termed the visit most successful and claimed that the US president had reaffirmed that Pakistan would remain a strategic ally of the US in the war on terror.
