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US-Pak relations run into rough weather

The United States's relations with Pakistan appear headed for fresh tensions over Islamabad's crackdown on the country's media, including the arrest last week of Najam Sethi.

In an emerging row between the two countries, the State Department yesterday rejected Pakistan's accusation that the US was interfering in its internal affairs by demanding the release of Sethi.

The editor of Friday Times, an English weekly, was taken into custody last week for alleged links with India's intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing.

'We do not see it as interference. The freedom of the press is an international issue and Pakistan is a party to all international conventions to preserve it. This is no interference. We will continue to pursue it everywhere," a state department official said.

He was commenting on the Pakistani foreign office's reaction, attacking last Monday's statement of the state department, which asked the Nawaz Sharief government to 'terminate immediately this unacceptable crackdown against members of the journalistic community."

In a related development, Assistant Secretary of State Karl Inderfurth called Jugnu Mohsin, the wife of the arrested editor, to express continued support of the US government to secure Sethi's release.

He also spoke to Pakistan's ambassador to the US Riaz Khokhar, insisting that the position taken by the Clinton administration on Islamabad's crackdown on the press was based on principles.

US ambassador to Pakistan William Milam, currently back home for consultations, said at an Asia Society breakfast meeting, that the Pakistan government's harassment of the press had evoked a strong worldwide reaction.

He said President Clinton's plans to visit Pakistan might be jeopardised if harassment of the press continued.

Asked about the rationale for the state department's unusually strong reaction, he said the US position was based on principles. He claimed he knew most of the journalists who were targeted by the Pakistani government.

'I have trouble believing what is being said about them," he remarked, adding, 'if they are guilty of anything, the charges should be made very clear and proper procedures be followed."

UNI

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