NEW YORK, Dec 23: President Pervez Musharraf’s “friends in Washington need to tell the former general and the Pakistani military — no matter what the polls say about his unpopularity — that trying to rig this vote is unacceptable,” the New York Times said in an editorial on Sunday.
President Musharraf’s “criticism from the Bush administration has been unacceptably muted”, the newspaper noted.
It said “new doubts were raised last week about Mr Musharraf’s proclaimed commitment to the fight against terrorism — the main justification for Washington’s enabling — when a Pakistani suspect accused of plotting to blow up trans-Atlantic airplanes somehow managed to slip out of his handcuffs and escape from custody”.
Consequently, the Times said: “Any hope that he was nudging the country towards a genuine democracy was quashed when he also moved to exempt his own most controversial actions from any court challenges.
That means his highly questionable election to a new five-year term will stand, as will his dismissal of 13 Supreme Court judges and more than 40 High Court judges.”
