May 21, 2003	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 18

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LONDON, May 20: Commonwealth foreign ministers on Tuesday welcomed steps towards democracy in Pakistan, but upheld its exclusion from the group until parliament wins “full sovereign authority”.

Speaking after a meeting in London, the ministers said democratic institutions had continued to develop in Pakistan since President Musharraf held parliamentary elections in October.

They also welcomed measures taken to promote the representation of women and minorities and “the determination to enhance public accountability and end corruption”.

But they decided to uphold Pakistan’s four-year suspension from the Commonwealth’s main decision-making bodies until their next meeting in New York in September.

“We want to see a parliament in Pakistan with the full sovereign authority of a parliament,” Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon said at a news conference.

“We want to see an executive government with the normal authority that would be attributed to a government.”

Pakistan was suspended from the Commonwealth after the dismissal of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government in Oct 1999.

“Pakistan has made good progress back on to the path of democracy,” said Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, who pushed hard at Tuesday’s talks for the Commonwealth to acknowledge the progress Pakistan had made in recent months.—Reuters