ISLAMABAD, Nov 7: There will be no shift in the US policy towards Pakistan whatever the results of the US mid-term elections, according to US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia and Central Asia Richard Boucher.
“We should not doubt that our policies towards Pakistan serve the best interests of the United States and I do not expect any change whatsoever as a result of the mid-term elections there”, he told a press conference after meeting President Pervez Musharraf.
Both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party support Pakistan and President Musharraf, he said.
Mr Boucher said President Musharraf was introducing sustainable democracy in Pakistan and Washington wanted his efforts to succeed.
His country, he said, also supported President Musharraf’s programme of enlightened moderation as it sought to have an educated and moderate nation, “and we will keep working in this respect”.
He said that Pakistan would continue to be a major US ally against terrorism, adding that both the countries enjoyed good political and economic relations.
He hoped that Pakistan would hold free and fair elections next year, paving the way to full democracy.
He said he would be meeting leaders of the opposition parties but ruled out the possibility of seeing Secretary-General of the JUI Maulana Fazlur Rehman.
When reminded that the JUI leader was an important person who could help resolve the tribal area crisis, he said: “There live several million people in Pakistan and I cannot meet everyone.”
Mr Boucher told a reporter that the United States had not launched an air strike on a Madressah in Bajaur, killing more than 80 people on Oct 30. “Pakistan government initiated this action as militants were using it as a training centre”, he claimed.
“Our hope is that these areas can be made peaceful through a combination of political and economic steps,” he said, agreeing that the influence of local and political leaders could be used to deal with various issues.
“However, when there are militants and fighters in the war against terror they need to be dealt with other means,” he asserted.
He said he was concerned about anti-US feelings in Pakistan but that did not mean that terrorists and militants should not be chased. He termed it speculation that the US forces had fired a missile from a Predator drone at the seminary.
The assistant secretary of state said that the writ of the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan needed to be established to the edges of their borders.
He said he had met President Musharraf and other government leaders and discussed with them Pakistan’s growing energy requirements. In this regard, he said that an agreement would be signed next year to help Pakistan import electricity from central Asian states, especially Tajikistan.
In about two weeks, Pakistani, American and Tajik officials would be meeting in Dushanbe to ensure that the project should move quickly, he said.
When asked whether the United States was still opposing the proposed Iran Pakistan India (IPI) gas pipeline project, he said: “We have not heard any news about it for a long time. It is not an active question for us,” he said without explaining.