19 June 2004	Saturday	30 Rabi-us-Saani 1425

WASHINGTON, June 18: The US administration believes that a change of government in Islamabad will not destabilize Pakistan because "it's a stable nation."

Senior US officials made this observation when asked at a special briefing for South Asian journalists if the United States had a contingency plan for dealing with a sudden change of administration in Islamabad.

"Pakistan is a stable nation there's a prime minister, a parliament, an elected government," said one senior US official while explaining why Washington thinks a sudden change will not destabilize Pakistan.

Asked if the United States would still have a strong ally in Pakistan if President Pervez Musharraf quits, the official said: "First of all, we hope that he will not. We hope that he will have a long and happy life, but our support is not just for President Musharraf, it is for the entire country."

Participating in the discussion, other US officials said it was wrong to believe that the US administration had so much influence in Pakistan that it tells Pakistani rulers what to do.

They reminded the journalists that there have been several occasions in the past when Pakistani governments disagreed with Washington, doing what they thought were in their national interest.

The officials also rejected the suggestion that the $3 billion aid package for Pakistan announced two years ago gave the US administration enough leverage to make Islamabad accept its advice.

They reminded the journalists that for almost 10 years Pakistan was perhaps the most sanctioned nation in the world and yet the restrictions could not force Pakistan to change its mind on certain issues, such as its nuclear programme.

The officials said that it was also wrong to believe that since President Musharraf was a strong US ally, Washington did not encourage him to further open up the Pakistani society.