Sorry General, you are the problem

Tough talking John Negroponte asks Pervez Musharraf to abandon uniform

ISLAMABAD: American Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte has warned the Pakistani military ruler General Musharraf that if he doesn’t lift emergency and take off his uniform before the general elections, the United States will withdraw support to his military regime.

Negroponte reached Islamabad on Friday evening to talk directly with Musharraf about the situation, though President Bush had held telephonic dialogue with Pervez Musharraf.

According to sources,Negroponte told the General quite bluntly that he has been specially dispatched to convey the Bush administration’s demand.

The sources said Negroponte, also conveyed strong reactions about Musharraf’s recent unconstitutional steps, including the imposition of emergency, sacking of the judges, massive arrests of opposition parties’ workers and the curbs on the print and electronic media.

The diplomatic sources claimed that during his Saturday meeting with Musharraf, John Negroponte pointed that the “red lines set by the Bush administration” are moving closer and that he is increasingly been seen as a part of the problem rather than the solution.

Negroponte conveyed a message that the US wants to continue its contacts with the moderate political forces in Pakistan to get the country back on the pathway to constitutional rule.