The Bush administration told the US Congress on Wednesday that Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf had ignored its pleas against imposing an emergency in that country.
Deputy Secretary of State John D Negroponte, appearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said, "We strongly counseled against emergency rule, but Pakistan's leadership did not follow our advice."
The senior official said, "We strongly disagree right now with the government's recent decisions and feel those decisions are contrary to the steps needed to build a stable democratic state."
Negroponte noted that as President Bush said on November 5, "we had stressed before President Musharraf decided to issue the proclamation of emergency that emergency measures undermine democracy."
"President Bush called for democracy to be restored quickly, for elections to be held as scheduled and for President Musharraf to resign his position as Chief of Army Staff," he added.
But in a continuing show of support for Musharraf, the official pointed out that Bush had also said that "President Musharraf has been indispensable in the global war on terror, so indispensable that extremists and radicals have tried to assassinate him many times."
"The bottom line is," Negroponte argued, "there's no question that we Americans have a stake in Pakistan. It needs to be a long-term stake, and, as the 9/11 Commission has documented, we need to sustain our engagement if we are to effectively assist the majority of the Pakistani people to realise their desire for a more moderate, stable and democratic state."
He acknowledged that "many Pakistanis are skeptical of our stated commitment to a long-term partnership based on common democratic objectives, and this skepticism makes it difficult for our governments to focus on the fight against terrorism and progress toward a more democratic future for Pakistan."
But Negroponte said, "We cannot afford to return to our past estrangement. Partnership with Pakistan and its people is the only option," and added that "as we assess our relationship with Pakistan, we need to protect our vital, long-term interests in Pakistan by helping the Pakistani people ensure Pakistan's progress toward democracy and civilian rule."
He said, "Pakistan has undoubtedly made progress towards becoming a more moderate, stable, and prosperous country since President Musharraf came to power, and that is why we are so concerned that the backsliding inherent in the state of emergency be reversed before it damages these positive trends."
Negroponte added, "It is for this reason that we are urging the government to return to laying the foundation for a sustainable transition from military to civilian rule, and fulfilling its commitments to do all it could to ensure that upcoming parliamentary elections occur on time and reflect a free, fair, and transparent political process."
He reiterated that "the current state of emergency calls into question these commitments, but we should work to achieve their fulfillment, not pre-emptively write them off."
In attempting to alleviate Congressional anger over Musharraf's actions, Negroponte said that Musharraf on November 5 had repeated his commitment to resign as chief of army staff before he re-takes the presidential oath-of-office.
"We strongly urge him to keep his commitments about the timing of elections and resigning as chief of army staff, and we stand with the Pakistani people in expecting that he fulfill those commitments."
Negroponte acknowledged that Musharraf's resignation as army chief "will not in itself represent a full transition to civilian rule in Pakistan, but it would be a key important step in the right direction."
Also, in an effort to obviously ward off the Congressional calls that aid to Pakistan be suspended, the senior official said that while his boss Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice had informed Musharraf that the US would be reviewing its assistance programmes, she had also said that "We needed to keep in mind that we have an obligation to protect the American people."
Explaining how aid to Pakistan protects the American people, Negroponte told Congress that as Rice has argued "much of our assistance in Pakistan contributes directly to our national interests and to the counter-terrorism mission, whether addressing terrorism and security concerns directly, or whether addressing the underlying social, economic and political conditions that terrorists and violent extremists exploit."
Thus, he said that the administration strongly believed that "given the long-term nature of our relationship, it is important that our assistance programmes continue to help the Pakistani people through this difficult current period and solidify our long-term relationship."