Dawn reports.. The US ambassador-designate to Pakistan has told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that President Pervez Musharraf is firmly in control of his country, but will have to share power with a prime minister after October elections.
Nancy Powell, who has been looking after the US Embassy in Islamabad as charge d'affaires for the past two months, described Musharraf's job as one of the world's toughest.
"He's (now) managing a political transition. Since September 11, he has been managing a foreign policy transition both on the western border with Afghanistan, and with India and Kashmir on the eastern border," Nancy Powell said, adding these were "very, very difficult and challenging jobs".
She said Musharraf's crackdown on extremism within Pakistan had "produced somewhat of a backlash against him personally, with additional threats." "(But) my appreciation is that he is firmly in charge of the country at this time. There is no particular threat to him in that respect."
Nancy Powell was among the 50 nominees, including nine ambassadors, who appeared before the senate on Tuesday for their confirmation.
There is a long-standing tradition in the United States that the senate accelerates nomination proceedings before the summer recess, which begins next week.
The ambassador-designate, however, said the situation would change after the October elections as the Pakistani constitution called "for the prime minister to have the day-to-day operations for the government."
She said this would be a critical period for Gen Musharraf as "he adjusts to the constitutional role of the president, as compared to ... the chief executive role that he has held for the past three years."
During the hearing, senator Sam Brownback compared Musharraf with the founder of modern Turkey, Kemal Ataturk, and said both Musharraf and Pakistan have to win the war against terrorists.
"Pakistan is at such a serious juncture right now that - and it really must succeed at this juncture. For it to fail, with the nuclear capacity that it has, really would be a very destabilizing thing throughout the world," the senator said, adding that Pakistan's failure was something that "just can't be countenanced.
He said by pledging to change his society, President Musharraf had undertaken a tough job and "we need to be very supportive of him in those efforts to move that forward."
Nancy Powell said the United States had an ambitious plan to make Pakistan succeed and realized Musharraf must have a growing economy to retain the support of his people.
She said the new government that follows the October elections would also have to create more jobs for the people and "develop additional income that will allow the people to expand the lives for their children."
Nancy Powell said the United States was addressing two key areas of development, education and health, and was trying to balance its "security interests" with the need to help economic reforms in Pakistan.
She said the United States was also looking at the possibility of expanding Pakistan's exports beyond textiles. She said with more than 65 per cent of its exports coming from this sector, Pakistan was almost "totally dependent" on this commodity.
There is a strong lobby within the United States that opposes increasing Pakistan's textile quota because it believes that it will hurt the cotton growers in the southern states. Aware of the influence of this lobby, Nancy Powell said the United States would try to diversify imports from Pakistan by encouraging the country's growing IT community and its rich agricultural resources that may also be expanded.
She admitted it would be difficult for the US government to encourage American investors to invest in Pakistan in the present security situation and that was why, she said, the United States was also helping Pakistan to improve security.
"President Musharraf is very much aware of that. He has spoken to me and to others about this ... efforts to attract foreign investment, not just American investment, have also been set back by India, Pakistan tensions," said the ambassador-designate.
"Certainly, our efforts on the law enforcement side and on the border security issue will help to improve the security situation."
Senator Paul Wellstone expressed concerns about corruption and militarism in Pakistan, and urged the US government to look at these issues while ensuring that Pakistan stays engaged in the fight against terrorism.
He said the Indian government also had "every right to be concerned about terrorist elements in Pakistan, who have used Pakistan to stage and launch attacks in India and also in occupied Kashmir."
Addressing his concerns, Nancy Powell said most Pakistanis see Gen Musharraf and his cabinet as those who have put an end to corruption at the higher levels of the government but corruption continues to be a problem at lower levels and this is where the United States is trying to help Pakistan.
She said to encourage democratic traditions and reduce militarism, the US government had set aside funds for training the lawmakers who will be elected in the October elections and we believe that many of them will be elected for the first time.
Nancy Powell said the US government would also encourage senior government officials, journalists, businessmen and students to visit the United States to increase interaction with the future leadership of the country.
She said President Musharraf had also promised an end to infiltrations into occupied Kashmir and we were seeing a decrease in that but it needed to continue to the point where it has stopped.
Throughout the hearing, senator Brownback was more supportive of Pakistan than his colleagues. |
