March 16, 2002	Saturday	Muharram 1, 1423

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WASHINGTON, March 15: The United States believes that the modalities of Pakistan’s October elections and who can or cannot take part in them is something for the people of the country to decide.

An indication to this effect was given by a spokesman for the National Security Council in a briefing for foreign journalists here on Thursday.

Asked to comment on Gen Pervez Musharraf’s statement that former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif will not be allowed to take part in the elections planned for October, the spokesman said it was up to the people of Pakistan to come to some solution on this score.

Observers feel that America’s insistence on a return to civilian elected government in Pakistan has become somewhat muted since Sept 11 and the crucial support extended by Islamabad for the US campaign in Afghanistan. However, the NSC spokesman stressed that the US certainly continued to encourage renewal of the democratic process in Pakistan, and this point was also discussed by President George Bush during his meeting with Gen Musharraf in Washington last month.

A senior State Department official stressed on Friday that the US looked forward to free and fair elections in Pakistan that ensured the return of representative government.