Press Releases 2007
Remarks To The Press By Deputy Secretary Of State John D. Negroponte
11/18/2007
TRANSCRIPT
Remarks to the Press by Deputy Secretary of State
John D. Negroponte
November 18, 2007
Islamabad, Pakistan
MODERATOR:
It's a great pleasure this morning to introduce our Deputy Secretary of
State John Negroponte, who has been here a couple of days, as you know.
And he will speak at the beginning, give an introductory statement, and
then open it up for questions. And we ask that the questions please be
one per person and succinct, please.
Ambassador Negroponte.
DEPUTY SECRETARY NEGROPONTE: Good morning, thank you, Elizabeth. I'd like to make a brief statement.
During
this brief trip to Islamabad, I had meetings with President Musharraf
and other senior Pakistani Government officials, including National
Security Advisor Aziz, Vice Chief of Army Staff General Kiyani, former
Foreign Minister Kasuri and Inter-Services Intelligence Director
General Taj. I also spoke by phone with Pakistani Peoples Party Leader
Benazir Bhutto.
In my meeting with President Musharraf, he
reiterated his vision for a moderate, prosperous and democratic
Pakistan. Under his leadership, Pakistan has made great progress
towards that vision. Over the past few years, the Pakistani people have
witnessed expanded and freer media, unprecedented economic growth and
development, and the moderation of gender-based laws and school
curricula. President Musharraf has been and continues to be a strong
voice against extremism. We value our partnership with the Government
of Pakistan under the leadership of President Musharraf.
We
welcome President Musharraf's announcement that elections will take
place in January, a commitment he repeated to me yesterday in
categorical terms. He also repeated his commitment to retire from his
army post before commencing his second presidential term. And we urge
him to do so as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, the recent
political actions against protestors, suppression of the media, and the
arrests of political and human rights leaders runs directly counter to
the reforms that have been undertaken in recent years. Their
continuation undermines the progress that Pakistan has made. I urged
the Government of Pakistan to stop such actions, to lift the state of
emergency, and release all political detainees. Emergency rule is not
compatible with free, fair and credible elections, which require the
active participation of political parties, civil society, and the
media. The people of Pakistan deserve an opportunity to choose their
leaders free from the restrictions that exist under a state of
emergency.
Looking to the future, the United States believes
that the best way for any country to counter violent extremism is to
develop and nurture a moderate political center. We believe this is
true for Pakistan as well. And in my talks, I encouraged reconciliation
between political moderates as the most constructive way forward.
A
democratic Pakistan that continues the fight against terror is vital to
the interests of both the United States and Pakistan. In the current
circumstances, engagement and dialogue, not brinksmanship and
confrontation, should be the order of the day for all parties. The
United States supports the Pakistani people in their efforts to develop
a prosperous and democratic nation.
That ends my prepared comments, and I'd be pleased to try and answer a few of your questions before departing for Washington.
QUESTION:
My name is Javed Siddiq. I represent Daily ‘Nawa-e-Waqt.’ You had your
meeting with the President, and following that meeting the press
reports came that General Pervez Musharraf has refused to give any time
frame to lift emergency. Will you term your meeting with President
Musharraf on this count as a failure?
DEPUTY SECRETARY NEGROPONTE:
I don't think that it would be right in such a short time frame --
after all, this meeting that I've had with the President took place
only yesterday -- to talk in terms of success or failure. I think it
was an opportunity to communicate the concerns we had to President
Musharraf, to raise the points that I mentioned in my prepared
statement. In diplomacy, as you know, we don't get instant replies when
we have these kinds of dialogue. I'm sure that the President is
seriously considering the exchange we had yesterday, just as we are
taking very seriously the comments that he had to make to us.
QUESTION:
Sir, Stephanie Sy from ABC News. I just wonder if President Musharraf
is indeed cracking down on extremists, why haven’t they been able to
penetrate settled areas such as the Sawat Valley?
DEPUTY SECRETARY NEGROPONTE:
We share with the Government of Pakistan a concern about combating
violent extremism in this country, in the border areas and also, of
course, in the country of Afghanistan. This is a matter of high
priority and concern for both of our governments. It's an area we have
cooperated in the past and expect to continue cooperating in the
future.
It is true that the government faces some challenges
in that part of Pakistan, which I take as an example of the determined
efforts of extremist elements that exist here. And it's yet another
reason to be concerned about the situation in Pakistan, but I also have
no doubt about the commitment of the Pakistani Government, the
Pakistani army and the Pakistani security forces to deal with that
situation. It's one of the subjects that I discussed with the President
and in somewhat more detail with General Kiyani when I met with him.
And as you know, we have a number of programs designed to assist the
Government of Pakistan in dealing with that situation.
QUESTION:
This is Hanif Khalid representing Daily “Jang”. My question is that
certain TV channels has been closed in Pakistan. Your comments, please?
DEPUTY SECRETARY NEGROPONTE:
Well, as I said in my remarks, we don't think that these kinds of
emergency measures are compatible with the kind of environment that is
needed to conduct free and fair elections. And this is one of the
principal issues which I discussed with the President yesterday and we
urged that, as I said, that these kinds of actions be stopped, that the
state of emergency be lifted, and that all political detainees be
released. And we think it is those kinds of steps that will help ensure
that the forthcoming elections are as fair and free as possible.
QUESTION:
Aryn Baker , Time Magazine. Given the situation in Sawat, would you be
willing to accept an agreement along the lines of the Waziristan
accords of last year?
DEPUTY SECRETARY NEGROPONTE: Look,
I don't want to get into the details of what kind of arrangements might
be satisfactory or acceptable to the Government of Pakistan in dealing
with that situation. I think I'd rather limit myself to saying that the
situation in Sawat is a reminder of the fact that there are issues to
deal with regarding violent extremism in this country. The Government
of Pakistan is undertaking a major effort at the moment to deal with
the situation in Sawat, and I suspect that it will be doing so for a
while to come. And we are certainly supportive of the Government of
Pakistan's efforts to combat violent extremism in the Sawat, region.
QUESTION:
Farhan Bokhari, Financial Times. Sir, did you explain to the President
the implications for future U.S. economic and military aid if he does
not resolve the political challenges that he faces in Pakistan and your
concerns about Pakistan's internal situation? And what was his response
to it?
DEPUTY SECRETARY NEGROPONTE: Our discussion was in
the context of two friendly countries, two friendly governments that
share common interests and are facing some common challenges, including
efforts against violent extremism. As a friend of Pakistan and as a
country that provides substantial assistance t this country, we spoke
-- I spoke to the President in terms of the kinds of steps we felt were
necessary in order to ensure a democratic evolution of Pakistan and how
to get the political process back on track.
What the President
told me was that he'd taken some of the steps, or intended to take some
of the steps that have been talked about, such as holding early
elections, such as taking off the uniform, but that there remain
several other issues that are yet to be considered or yet to be
undertaken.
And I think I would leave it at saying that we
urge President Musharraf and his government to consider as rapidly as
possible taking these other remaining steps so that the elections can
go forward on a satisfactory basis.
QUESTION: Thank you.
Zain Verjee, CNN. What specifically, Ambassador, will be the
consequences if Musharraf does not lift the state of emergency prior to
elections? And did you communicate to him what those consequences --
DEPUTY SECRETARY NEGROPONTE:
Well, yes, I think you're going to a question similar to the one that
was just asked, and I think that I'd rather confine my reply to what I
just said, which is that we believe that the best way to go forward is
to lift the state of emergency and take these other steps that I
discussed. And if those steps aren't taken, it will certainly undermine
the government's ability to conduct satisfactory elections. And I think
that I can safely say that our two governments share a common
commitment to carrying these elections out in a satisfactory way, so
that I would hope to see the government take steps to make this
possible as quickly as they can.
QUESTION: This is
Shaukat Paracha from AAJ TV. You talked about the moderate forces
coming together. How far you were able to bridge the differences
between Benazir Bhutto and President Musharraf because you spoke both
of them? Thank you.
DEPUTY SECRETARY NEGROPONTE: Well, of
course, I was only here for a very short period of time. But as I
mentioned and has been reported in the media, I did have a chance to
speak with Ms. Bhutto by phone two evenings ago.
I think what
I would say here, and as I mentioned in my statement, we believe that
the path of political moderation is the best way forward for Pakistan,
and that to the extent that that is true, reconciliation between the
moderate political forces is a very desirable thing and could help set
the conditions for a successful election.
And now in recent days
and weeks, the situation appears to have polarized somewhat and that,
of course, has had the effect of throwing the political process off
track. But if steps were taken by both sides to move back towards the
kinds of reconciliation discussions that they had been having
previously, we think that that would be very positive and could help
improve the political environment and pull the political actors back
from the atmosphere of brinksmanship and confrontation that appears to
have existed in recent weeks.
I'll take two more questions.
QUESTION:
Yeah, Mr. Negroponte, Damian Grammaticas from BBC TV. I'd just like to
ask, you have not called for the release and reinstatement of the Chief
Justice and the other judges. Why not? Because I know that is a
question that many Pakistanis care very deeply about and would like to
hear an answer from.
DEPUTY SECRETARY NEGROPONTE: We have
urged the government to stop the suppression of the media and the
arrest of political and human rights leaders. And as I said, we believe
those actions run directly counter to the reforms that have been
undertaken in recent years and we believe that their continuation
undermines the progress that Pakistan has made. What I did do was to
urge the government to stop such actions, to lift the state of
emergency, and to release all political detainees.
QUESTION:
My name is Baber from ATV. Do you believe that without Musharraf regime
in Pakistan war on terror is not good handling in the region?
DEPUTY SECRETARY NEGROPONTE: I didn't quite understand the last part of the question.
QUESTION: Do you believe that without Musharraf regime in Pakistan war on terror is not good handling in the region?
DEPUTY SECRETARY NEGROPONTE:
Right, yeah. Look, this is a hypothetical question. I mean, we are
working with the government and people of Pakistan to fight violent
extremism and we think that one of the best ways to do that is to move
forward with the democratic political process. And at this point in
time, we are working with President Musharraf and his government to
achieve that. We believe his government shares those same goals and we
think it's a question of taking the steps necessary to accomplish this
constructive, this positive political evolution. So that's our focus at
this particular time. And I sincerely hope that we can move things
forward in a constructive and a positive way.
Thank you very much.