US diplomat Negroponte to visit Pak

Bush wants emergency lifted ahead of elections

ISLAMABAD: US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte will visit Pakistan shortly, officials said on Tuesday, without confirming if he was the envoy reportedly being sent to demand an end to emergency rule.

The New York Times reported that President George W Bush is to send an envoy to personally tell military ruler Pervez Musharraf that Washington wants emergency rule lifted ahead of general elections promised by early January. “I can confirm that Deputy Secretary of State Negroponte is to visit but this was planned for some time as part of the long-term strategic dialogue,” US embassy spokeswoman Liz Colton said.

Colton did not say when he would come but Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper said it would be later this week. Negroponte is expected to discuss the current political crisis in Pakistan, sparked by Musharraf’s declaration of a state of emergency on November 3, as well as the fight against Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, Dawn said. Pakistani government sources said there were no known plans for any other US officials to visit the country but could not rule out a visit by another Washington official.
 
The New York Times, citing unnamed administration officials, did not identify the special envoy or indicate when the visit would take place. Musharraf is regarded by the United States as a key ally in tackling Islamic extremists holed up along the Pakistani-Afghan border, and Washington has indicated that it will not cut military aid.

But Bush has called on Musharraf to end the state of emergency ahead of general elections that the Pakistani leader has promised to hold before January 9. “The president thinks that we need to lift the emergency rule in order to have free and fair elections,” said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.