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Musharraf refuses to set date for ending emergency rule

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf reaffirmed his commitment to democracy, but declined to give a timeframe for lifting emergency rule.

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 WASHINGTON: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, in an interview published on Saturday, reaffirmed his commitment to democracy, but declined to give a timeframe for lifting emergency rule.    

"If I am a dictator, I don't know what kind of dictator I am," Musharraf told The Washington Post. "I am the strongest believer in democracy. I brought democracy to Pakistan and I still believe in it."     He said was 'thinking about' a timeframe for lifting a state of emergency it, but when asked when that could happen, he answered, "I don't know."    

Musharraf was to meet on Saturday with visiting US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, who spoke with opposition leader Benazir Bhutto by telephone on Friday. Negroponte is the most high-ranking US official to visit Pakistan since the crisis broke out two weeks ago when Musharraf declared a state of emergency.   

The caretaker cabinet, led by a premier who is a close Musharraf ally, was sworn in Friday with the task of leading the crisis-hit Islamic republic to general elections by early January. While facing pressure to end a crackdown on the opposition and the media, the Pakistani president insisted that anyone who breaks the law 'will be back in jail or restricted'.  

"We don't want anyone in agitation mode, and I will tell Negroponte and the US that Pakistan comes first, and there are certain realities on the ground -- extremism and terrorism -- that made me decide to go with emergency law."   

Musharraf has scheduled parliamentary elections for January 9, but it remains unclear whether emergency rule would be lifted by that time.    

Meanwhile, former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who now lives in exile in Saudi Arabia, blasted US support for the Musharraf government and urged Washington to support democracy in his country.    

In an opinion piece in the same newspaper, Sharif recalled that former president Bill Clinton had refused to shake hands or be photographed with Musharraf when he visited Pakistan in 2000.    

"By refusing to associate with a dictator, President Clinton essentially won the hearts of the Pakistani people," Sharif wrote in The Post. "That was the policy that should have been pursued. That is the policy that should be pursued now. America should not alienate 160 million Pakistanis by supporting a dictator who prefers rifles to reason."   

 

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