Press Releases 2007
Statement By U.S. Consul General Bryan Hunt
11/09/2007
Lahore - The U.S. Consulate in Lahore issued the following statement
today following U.S. Consul General Bryan Hunt’s call on Ms. Asma
Jehangir, Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan:
“In
my meeting with Ms. Asma Jehangir a short while ago, I reiterated that
the United States remains committed to supporting free, fair, and
credible elections in Pakistan and urges President Musharraf to restore
democracy as quickly as possible.
We also expect President
Musharraf to step down as Chief of Army Staff and begin his promised
transition to civilian democratic rule.
We welcome President
Musharraf’s statement that he will hold elections by February 15 – it
was important for the Pakistani people to hear that message.
The
United States is working to strengthen democratic institutions that
will establish a stable and democratic future for the people of
Pakistan. The United States has provided more than $26 million in
bilateral and multilateral program assistance in Pakistan for voter
education, political party development, computerization of the voting
rolls, training of political poll watchers, and domestic and
international election observation missions. The last 80,000 of the
430,000 transparent ballot boxes the United States and the Government
of Japan have purchased will be delivered by December 9.
As of
November 20, we plan to have our long-term independent election
observers on the ground. We have been offering Pakistani journalists
training in how to effectively report elections. We are helping the
Election Commission publish the voter list on their website.
Our
goal is to help Pakistan hold free, fair, and credible elections in
which the people can choose their own leaders. But for elections to be
credible, opposition political party leaders and their party workers
must be released from jail or house arrest. The media must be free to
report on events and share their opinions with the public.”