|
|
|
| July 4, 2005 | Monday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 26, 1426 |
Experts advise US against imposing curbs on Pakistan
WASHINGTON, July 3: Continued US pressure could encourage democratic reforms and religious freedom in Pakistan but sanctioning Islamabad could be counter-productive, a panel of expert witnesses told the US Commission on International Religious Freedom.
The experts also urged the Bush administration to increase its “public engagement” with opposition leaders Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif to counter Islamabad’s “persistent deviation” from democratic norms.
Other speakers advocated “greater US pressure” on Pakistan on issues relating to human rights, religious freedom and restoration of democracy.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom is a bipartisan statutory body created under the Freedom of Religion Act of 1998 to monitor the observance of freedom of conscience and belief in other countries and to make recommendations to the US president, secretary of state and Congress.
Earlier this week, the commission held a special hearing on the theme “The United States and Pakistan: Navigating a Complex Relationship” at the Dirksen Senate Building on Capitol Hill. Witnesses included the former assistant secretary of state for South Asia, Karl Inderfurth; Christine Fair of the United States Institute of Peace, Daniele Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute and Hussain Haqqani of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Boston University.
The four witnesses agreed on the need for greater US pressure over human rights and democratization issues but asserted that threat of sanctions was unlikely to be effective.
Mr Inderfurth pointed to Pakistan’s improved economic performance and the peace process with India under the present government as causes for optimism. He said, however, that much more progress was needed in the area of Pakistan’s adherence to universal principles of human rights.
According to Mr Inderfurth, US-Pakistan relations were better now than in many years and it was in America’s interest to stay engaged with Pakistan.
He cited a recent discussion with Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri and said that Pakistani officials did not like being pressurized publicly as that hurt their national pride.
Mr Inderfurth indicated a preference for private remonstrations by US officials as opposed to public criticism of the Pakistani government.
Giving a more sympathetic view of the Bush administration’s policies towards Pakistan, Ms Pletka told the commission that the US needed Pakistan’s cooperation in the global war against terrorism.
|
|
|
|
