Musharraf not trying to grab power: Pak's envoy to US
Pakistan's envoy to the US defends the Pakistani Premier over talks of emergency.
By PTI |
WASHINGTON: Pakistan's ambassador to the United States has brushed aside contention that imposition of emergency was considered by President Pervez Musharraf as a means to grab power, saying the move was in order to defeat extremism and terrorism and was constitutionally mandated.
"I think he (Musharraf) is solidly in power. It (Emergency) was basically to defeat extremism, terrorism. That was the purpose that I knew of that they were thinking of because we've had a spate of suicide bombings. Basically, it was for that, not for power grabbing," Mahmud Ali Durrani said on CNN's Late Edition.
"Declaring a state of emergency is a part of our constitution. It's not what people think it is. If a state of emergency was to be applied on Pakistan, it does not mean that the judiciary is going away or the parliament is going away or normal rights. It is for a limited period, limited time."
The top diplomat also said there were areas of disagreement regarding intelligence between the two countries, and maintained that contrary to assumption by the US, terrorist organisations believed to be hiding in Pakistan's border areas were not in a position to plan terror operations.
"Broadly speaking, I think the level of cooperation both at the operation level with our militaries and at the level of intelligence, I think is pretty good. There are areas of dispute, disagreement. And we need to tidy those over.
"I think what worries me most, is that Pakistan, or we say or I say that there are hideouts and there may be some Taliban. They are not in a state to plan operations. While your intelligence say there are safe havens. This is bad," the Pakistani ambassador said.
"I think he (Musharraf) is solidly in power. It (Emergency) was basically to defeat extremism, terrorism. That was the purpose that I knew of that they were thinking of because we've had a spate of suicide bombings. Basically, it was for that, not for power grabbing," Mahmud Ali Durrani said on CNN's Late Edition.
"Declaring a state of emergency is a part of our constitution. It's not what people think it is. If a state of emergency was to be applied on Pakistan, it does not mean that the judiciary is going away or the parliament is going away or normal rights. It is for a limited period, limited time."
The top diplomat also said there were areas of disagreement regarding intelligence between the two countries, and maintained that contrary to assumption by the US, terrorist organisations believed to be hiding in Pakistan's border areas were not in a position to plan terror operations.
"Broadly speaking, I think the level of cooperation both at the operation level with our militaries and at the level of intelligence, I think is pretty good. There are areas of dispute, disagreement. And we need to tidy those over.
"I think what worries me most, is that Pakistan, or we say or I say that there are hideouts and there may be some Taliban. They are not in a state to plan operations. While your intelligence say there are safe havens. This is bad," the Pakistani ambassador said.
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