Demonstrators staged noisy protests Monday as Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf held talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
LONDON: Demonstrators staged noisy protests Monday as Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf held talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, amid criticism over human rights and concern over elections.
Some 400 anti-Musharraf protestors including opposition leader Imran Khan and his ex-wife Jemima booed and waved their fists as the Pakistani president arrived for the Downing Street talks, according to a correspondent.
Musharraf and his wife Sebha posed on the steps of Number 10 with Brown and his wife Sarah before heading in for the talks, thought likely to focus on upcoming February 18 polls and cooperation in fighting extremism and terrorism.
The Pakistan leader began his visit to Britain Friday, after a European tour aimed at reassuring leaders about the transparency of the vote, which was delayed because of the December 27 killing of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.
But the British leg has been dogged by daily protests, and strong doubts at Musharraf's assertion that the elections would be "free, fair, transparent and peaceful".
"You cant have one rule for one dictator and one rule for another. The elections coming up are going to be rigged. There is no democracy in Pakistan," Jemima Khan said shortly before presenting a petition at Downing Street.
In a speech on Pakistan's role in south Asia to the Royal United Services Institute military think-tank in London on Friday, Musharraf dismissed claims the elections would be rigged.
"I would ask anyone to give me how (the polls) can be rigged, and if anyone gives me any suggestion, I would be too glad to pass it on to the chief election commissioner for implementation," he said.
But he warned Western governments of judging Pakistan by their own standards, while professing his backing for human rights, civil liberties and freedom of speech
"The only thing we would like is that this freedom should be within bounds... and not lead to violence and destruction and anarchy," he added.
On Monday Musharraf was also expected to brief Brown on the latest developments in the probe into the killing of former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto.
Britain has sent a team of Scotland Yard experts to help Pakistan police investigate the December 27 assassination.
Britain was among leading countries in the decision to suspend Pakistan from the Commonwealth over Musharraf's declaration of a state of emergency. It was unclear if that issue would be discussed Monday.
The anti-Musharraf protestors, who were kept at bay by barricades and a significant police presence on Whitehall, held placards including one reading "UN-led investigation demanded by the people of Pakistan".
Across the road some 30 pro-Musharraf demonstrators gathered, waving Pakistani flags and chanting "Pervez Musharraf". "We love Pakistan" read one placard, while others held up pictures of Musharraf and small British flags.
Protestors waited outside Downing Street to renew their chanting as Musharraf left after the talks.
Jemima Khan, who now lives back in Britain, said the reunion with her former husband -- head of Pakistan's Tehreek-e-Insaf party and a former Pakistan cricket captain as well as -- was coincidential.
"It just happened that coincidentally he was here ... and I thought it would be a really good boost if he could come. It just shows how high emotions are running," she said.
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