WASHINGTON, Sept 24: The arrest of opposition politicians in Pakistan and the reported fraud in a US-financed voters list has alarmed Washington and the State Department urged Islamabad on Monday to release the politicians “as soon as possible”.
The European Union also expressed concern and urged the “government to ensure that its response is proportionate and follows due legal process”.
The unusual public denouncement of the Pakistan government was seen in the US capital as indicating Washington’s determination to ensure that the forthcoming elections in Pakistan are “fair, free and transparent” and “all inclusive”, as a State Department official said.
Also on Monday, The Washington Post reported that the names of tens of millions of Pakistanis are missing from a new voters list, “threatening to seed mass confusion over who is eligible to cast a ballot”.
US officials are particularly concerned about this discovery because “creation of the list was heavily funded by Washington” and “it was to be the signature US contribution to the election process”, the report added.
The US Congress had allocated $28 million for assisting the election process in Pakistan, of which $20 million had gone towards supporting the Election Commission’s work. The single largest contribution to that effort had been the $10 million the United States spent on computerising the new voter rolls.
But observers interviewed by the Post said that US officials erred in trusting the Election Commission of Pakistan because its “members are handpicked by President Musharraf” and it had “a reputation for incompetence and for lacking independence from the president”.
According to the Post, the list had only about 52 million names -- 20 million fewer than in 2002. With population growth, experts had expected the number of names to rise, not fall, and many said they believed 30 million or more names were missing from the new rolls.
Explaining US interests in ensuring that the forthcoming elections in Pakistan were fair and free, the report quoted from a recent International Crisis Group report, which warned that “rigged or stalled elections would destabilise Pakistan, with serious international security consequences”.
It also explained Washington’s concern about the reported arrests of opposition politicians in Pakistan.“It is our expectation that arrests would be handled transparently and in keeping with Pakistani law and international norms,” a State Department official told reporters in Washington. “We want to see the detainees released as soon as possible.”
The official said that the United States wanted to see Pakistan succeed as a modern and moderate country by the choice of the Pakistani people.“We hope to see a democratic process that is inclusive and election of a leader that represents the choice of the people through fair free and transparent process.”
The official disagreed with the suggestion that the US reaction to the arrests was unusual because in the past the Bush administration avoided publicly criticising Islamabad.
“We have been meeting with members of political parties and encouraging entities that support movement towards democracy to advance the election process,” she said.
The official said it was not right to suggest that the United States is only now beginning to support the restoration of full democracy to Pakistan. “We have always said that a democratic government is in the interest of the country and its people. We have always encouraged actions and programmes that move the country towards becoming more moderate and more open and that has not changed.”
Asked if the arrests impede Pakistan’s progress towards democracy, the official said: “We are concerned as to what it does to the democratic and election process.”
She said it would be wrong to assume from the US response to the arrests that it no longer supported the Musharraf government.
“We continue to support the government. We work with the government. The government of Pakistan is an ally and we cooperate with the government not only in the war against terrorism and but also in other areas,” the official said.
“But we felt the need to express our concern as to these reports about arrests,” she added.
Amir Waseem adds from Islamabad: In a strong-worded statement, a spokesman for the US Embassy in Islamabad on Monday not only termed the arrests of opposition parties’ leaders and workers as disturbing for Washington, but also asked the government of Pakistan to release all those political leaders and activists arrested in the past two days in a crackdown on the eve of Supreme Court’s likely judgment on petitions challenging eligibility of Gen Musharraf to contest the election for the office of the president.
When contacted to seek government’s viewpoint, Minister of State for Information Tariq Azeem said the Americans were close allies of Pakistan and had good understanding of the political landscape of Pakistan.
APP adds: The European Union expressed “concern at the recent arrest and detention of members of opposition parties,” according to a statement issued in Islamabad.
The heads of the EU mission in Pakistan said: “While understanding the importance of maintaining law and order during the electoral period, and urging restraint from all parties … we urge the government to ensure that its response is proportionate and follows due legal process”.
