KAMPALA, Nov 25: Commonwealth leaders on Sunday expressed their disappointment that Pakistan’s military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf had not honoured a commitment he made to them two years ago to give up his role as chief of the army.
The leaders also called on Pakistan to ‘’move rapidly to create the conditions that would allow the elections to be free, fair and credible,’’ said a statement issued at the end of the Commonwealth leaders summit on Sunday.
In a pre-summit meeting on Thursday, a committee of Commonwealth foreign ministers suspended Pakistan after Gen Musharraf failed to meet a deadline to lift a state of emergency and step down as army chief.
Pakistan on Friday condemned the action as ‘’unreasonable and unjustified.’’
Sunday’s statement said the leaders ‘’called on the government of Pakistan to respond positively to the Commonwealth’s desire to remain engaged and support the return of democratic government and the rule of law in Pakistan.’’
Malaysia, meanwhile, wanted the Commonwealth to delay suspension of Pakistan over emergency rule last week, but went along with a majority decision, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said on Sunday.
“We wanted the suspension delayed,” the prime minister told a news conference. But he added: “Anyway, we have to go along with the decision of the majority. That’s it.”
Sources at last week’s meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group said fellow Asian member Sri Lanka had also wanted to give Gen Musharraf more time to restore democracy after he began rolling back the emergency rule.
Commonwealth leaders also called for global trade talks to be concluded swiftly and endorsed a statement made on Saturday to be sent to next month’s climate change conference in Bali, the communiqué said.—Agencies
