NewsSaturday, March 01, 2008
Musharraf called ‘the missing man’
By Khalid Hasan
WASHINGTON: The failure of a senior US State Department official to name President Pervez Musharraf even once in his prepared testimony before the Senate was so conspicuous that the Washington Post ran a report on Friday under the caption ‘The Missing Man’, comparing what the official had said in November about the Pakistani president and what he did not say now. Deputy Secretary of State John D Negroponte testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday, the Post writes, pointing out that “his words were most noteworthy for what he did not say: Negroponte made no mention of President Pervez Musharraf ... whose party was ‘routed’ in the February 18 legislative elections. “In what appeared to be a clear effort to distance the United States from the embattled Musharraf, Negroponte’s prepared testimony made not a single reference to the Pakistani leader. ... Quite a difference from the last time Negroponte testified about Pakistan nearly four months ago, shortly after Musharraf had declared emergency rule.” The Post report went on to quote both from Negroponte’s testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on November 7, in which he referred to Musharraf around 11 times in his prepared testimony, often with praise. He called the Pakistani leader “indispensable in the global war on terror”. On Thursday, he said, “Pakistan has been ‘indispensable to our worldwide struggle against violent extremists’.” Last time, he said “under President Musharraf” Pakistan had become “more moderate, more prosperous”, but on Thursday, he said the US continued to believe that “only democracy can build a long-term consensus among Pakistanis on a moderate, prosperous future for their country”. Last time, he attributed Pakistan’s economic growth to “President Musharraf and PM Shaukat Aziz’s sound economic policies”, but this week, he said, “we should now renew our efforts by continuing to support Pakistan’s democratic progress” etc.
Courtesy Daily Times