US envoy to give Musharraf 'strong message'

ISLAMABAD: A senior US diplomat was to give Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf a 'very strong message' in blunt talks on Saturday to end emergency rule and hold free elections, officials and diplomats said.   

John Negroponte, number two in the US State Department, flew to Islamabad amid signs of growing US concerns over the crisis in its key ally in the 'war on terror'. He was due to meet Musharraf and other top Pakistani officials -- including the military ruler's deputy as the chief of army staff, General Ashfaq Kiyani -- in a flurry of closed-door talks.   

Western diplomats said he would urge Musharraf to end the emergency 'right away', resign as head of the army as he has promised, hold elections on time, lift restrictions on the media and release political prisoners. The United States sees Musharraf's Pakistan as a crucial ally in the fight against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, but has been signalling growing frustration at his refusal to lift the state of emergency he imposed two weeks ago.   

"It's a very strong message. He's going to tell him what the reality and facts are" in Washington, a diplomatic source said. That would include the message that the United States is reviewing all its assistance to Pakistan, including military aid. The United States has spent around 10 billion dollars on aid to Pakistan, much of it to the military, since 2001 when Musharraf sided the nuclear-armed nation with Washington.   

Negroponte spoke late Friday by telephone with main opposition leader and former premier Benazir Bhutto, who had been released from house arrest hours earlier. In Washington US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the envoy wanted to hear how she viewed the situation. He also met Musharraf's national security adviser, Tareq Aziz, and several foreign diplomats.   

Negroponte stressed "the importance of moderate forces working together in Pakistan for a better future for Pakistan and also to get Pakistan back on the pathway to constitutional and democratic rule," McCormack said. Musharraf imposed the emergency citing a surge in Islamic militancy and a meddlesome judiciary, and insists he took the action in the best interests of Pakistan. He has vowed elections by January 9 but indicated they will be held under emergency rule, angering opposition leaders who say it will render the vote a sham and are considering a boycott.   

In a BBC interview, Musharraf hit out at foreign criticism of his rule and accused former premier Benazir Bhutto of wanting to dodge elections. "It is she who may want to go on to the agitational war because she would not want to go into elections because her party is not in a state to win."    His comments followed Bhutto's rejection of his caretaker government, sworn in Friday under interim premier and close ally Mohammedmian Soomro.   

"We totally reject this interim government," she said in an interview. "It is unacceptable, it is biased." Washington had been pressing for a power-sharing alliance between her and Musharraf, seeing the two moderate, pro-Western leaders as a bulwark against Islamic militancy, but Bhutto earlier in the week ruled out more talks.   

She has said she is in talks with key political leaders, including exiled premier Nawaz Sharif, to try to forge a united front to force Musharraf from office. In his BBC interview, Musharraf criticised shifting attitudes to his rule since March, when he first tried to sack the nation's chief justice -- a step he was finally able to take after declaring the state of emergency. "Before March I was very good," he said.   

"Suddenly did I go mad after March or suddenly my personality changed, am I Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde or what is it? Am I such a person? "Have I done anything constitutionally illegal? Yes, I did it on 3 November. Did I do it before? Not once."