NEW YORK, Sept 29: The US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Richard Boucher, said on Friday that any civilian government in Pakistan would be in a better position to fight terrorism because all segments of society wanted to combat that scourge.
“A lot of people in Pakistan think it’s time for a transition and think it’s time to put the whole sort of basis of Pakistani society and politics on a more solid footing, a footing of modernisation, a footing of democracy, a footing of moderation” he told reporters at the foreign press centre in New York.
“And that’s something we’re trying to help with, not just in terms of encouraging the political process to go forward smoothly, our only hope is that the process of transition to democratic civilian government proceeds smoothly and successfully”, he stressed. “US also looks forward to free and fair elections in Pakistan”, he added.
Asked to comment on the recent Supreme Court’s decision allowing President Gen Pervez Musharraf to contest presidential elections in uniform, Mr Boucher said “these decisions are really internal matters for the politicians and for the courts of Pakistan. So we’re observers of these phenomena.”
On the fight against extremists whether the civilian government could do just as good a job as the army, Mr Boucher said “it’s not just the army that’s committed to fighting to terrorism. It’s not just the politicians. It’s really the vast majority of the whole society.”
“So I think this is common cause, common cause between people in the army, people in the current government, people in the various political parties, and that they understand that in order to modernise Pakistan, the need to deal with the threats of extremism to the whole society. So I don’t think the army would be any less dedicated, nor do I think the politicians would be any less dedicated. And I think it’s very important to put -- really to pay tribute for everything that the Pakistani security forces have done in the fight against terrorism”, he added.
Acknowledging the crucial role of Pakistan army in fighting terrorism and Al Qaeda, Mr Boucher said: “They’ve made an enormous effort. They’ve unfortunately lost a lot of people in doing that they’ve had a fair amount of success.”
“Unfortunately there are still dangerous people out there that are a threat to Pakistan, that are a threat to the United States, that are a threat to the whole world. And they still have a ways to go before they get real control over some of those groups that are threatening”, he observed.
