Washington, Dec 18 (Inditop.com) Amid rumours of a possible coup, the United States hopes that whatever the fallout of the withdrawal of an amnesty protecting Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, the country’s leaders would act in a constitutional manner. Washington believes that the situation in Pakistan is “serious” and the return of stability would take time.
“That is an internal Pakistani matter and we respect the decision of the (Pakistani) supreme court” ruling the controversial amnesty as unconstitutional, State Department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters Thursday.
“But, regardless of the fallout from the decision, we expect Pakistan’s leaders will act in accordance with their constitution,” he said when asked if the ruling that has led to demands for Zardari’s resignation would have any impact on the war on terror in Pakistan.
The controversial amnesty to Zardari and other political leaders was brought in by the previous military president, Pervez Musharraf, as part of a pre-election deal brokered by the US.
“My assessment of the situation in Pakistan right now is Pakistan has some major challenges that it’s confronting,” Wood said. “And I think Pakistanis will admit to you that the situation is serious.”
“And what they do know is that we, the United States, and other countries around the world want to try to help Pakistan because a stable Pakistan is in the interest of everyone, particularly its neighbour next door, Afghanistan,” he said. “It’s a major, major effort, and it’s going to take time.”
Wood also confirmed that hundreds of visas and visa renewals for US officials and contractors have been held up by the Pakistani government in recent months and said this would have an impact on the effectiveness of aid programmes in Pakistan.
“We’ve expressed our concern about the delays and the impact that this could very well have on our programmes and activities,” Wood said when asked to comment on a New York Times report.
The Times reported the delays were part of a campaign by Pakistan’s intelligence services and military to harass US diplomats who have been pushing for the Pakistani government to intensify the fight against the Taliban in Pakistan.
“If this continues, it will indeed have an impact on our ability to do the work that we want to do to help the Pakistani people in terms of fighting terrorism, in terms of economic development, and a whole range of issues,”
he said
But “I don’t think I can call it a deliberate campaign,” Wood said. “We are trying to work on these issues with the government of Pakistan,” he insisted. “They are well aware of [our] concerns.”
“Certainly, if any of our officials feel that they’re being harassed, there are appropriate channels to go through in order to file complaints about that sort of thing,” he said. “But I don’t think you can make a general comment that there’s an official harassment campaign.”
