[Mb-civic] Bush Offers Praise To Pakistani Leader - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Bush Offers Praise To Pakistani Leader
Government Beats, Arrests Protesters In Advance of President's Appearance

By Jim Vandehei and John Lancaster
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, March 5, 2006; A01

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, March 4 -- President Bush on Saturday praised 
Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, for his efforts in hunting 
down al-Qaeda operatives inside his country and his long-term commitment 
to democracy during a day-long visit to the capital.

"In the long run, he understands that extremists can be defeated by 
freedom and democracy and prosperity and better education," Bush said of 
Musharraf in a joint news conference at the presidential palace.

Bush's visit to Pakistan came at the end of a four-day trip to South 
Asia, which included a stop in Afghanistan and two days in India, where 
he announced an unprecedented agreement that would provide U.S. nuclear 
power assistance to India while allowing the country to increase 
production of nuclear weapons.

Bush's visit to Pakistan, his first to the country, was also symbolic. 
Musharraf is a key ally in the administration's global fight against 
terrorism, and hundreds of al-Qaeda members have been killed or captured 
here. Yet some U.S. officials have questioned his desire to aggressively 
battle militants and his record on democratic reforms.

Only hours before Bush's appearance, the Pakistani government cracked 
down on political leaders and others planning to protest the president's 
visit. In the city of Rawalpindi, about 10 miles from Islamabad, police 
arrested about 20 members of Tehrik-e-Insaaf, a small political party, 
as they staged a noisy but peaceful demonstration, beating some of them 
with bamboo sticks as foreign journalists and camera crews recorded the 
scene.

The protest was supposed to have been much larger, but early Saturday 
morning, police detained the leader of the party, former international 
cricket star Imran Khan, and placed him under house arrest, along with 
about a dozen other party officials, according to a party leader who 
remained at large and declined to be named for fear that he could be 
arrested. Later Saturday morning, blue-uniformed police blocked the 
driveway to Khan's palatial hilltop home near Islamabad and barred 
reporters from entering.

Reached by telephone, Khan speculated that Musharraf had ordered his 
detention because "he's just petrified that there could be a lot of 
people" at the protest. Khan added, "These double standards have to be 
exposed. . . . To call this democracy is a joke."

Bush and Musharraf did not mention the crackdown in their only joint 
appearance in the heavily fortified capital. The city's streets were 
cleared as Pakistan and the United States took extraordinary security 
measures to protect Bush and his entourage two days after a U.S. 
diplomat was killed by a suicide bomber in Karachi.

At a news conference Saturday afternoon, Pakistan's foreign minister, 
Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, said the detentions of Khan and other protest 
organizers were necessary to prevent the kind of disturbances that led 
to several deaths in Pakistan during the recent protests over cartoon 
depictions of the prophet Muhammad. "The idea is to prevent a breakdown 
of law and order," he said, asserting that such detentions normally last 
for less than a day.

The scene in Pakistan was even more tense than usual as a result of 
waves of violent protests, often directed at the United States, over the 
cartoons, which were initially published in a Danish newspaper. 
Musharraf, whom many Pakistanis consider too cozy with Bush and the 
West, began the news conference by condemning the cartoons and saying 
that they are not justified by the principle of freedom of press. Bush 
has defended the right of the press to print the cartoons, despite their 
offensive nature. He did not comment on the controversy Saturday.

Bush offered guarded praise of Musharraf's democratic moves since 
seizing power in a bloodless coup in 1999. He did not mention 
Musharraf's refusal to step down as army chief, which the Pakistani 
leader had promised to do as part of a democratization process. Nor did 
Bush echo the concerns of some inside the administration that Musharraf 
continues to stifle religious and other freedoms. He described a 
democratic Pakistan as more of a hope than reality.

But Musharraf offered an extraordinary defense. "Unfortunately, we are 
accused a lot on not moving forward on democracy," he said. "We have 
empowered the people of Pakistan now -- they were never empowered before 
-- by introducing a local government system where we have given the 
destiny of their areas for development, for welfare, for progress in 
their own hands through financial, political and administrative 
involvement." Bush said the two leaders strategized on how to make the 
next round of national elections more open and fair.

Unprovoked, Musharraf defended his refusal to relinquish his military 
position, which he had promised to do by 2004. He said he would revisit 
the issue next year.

U.S. officials said Bush is more concerned about Musharraf's help in 
hunting down terrorists than he is about Pakistan's mixed record on 
democracy, in large part because Bush realizes democracy is new to the 
region and will take time to blossom.

Bush said he was pleased with Pakistan's commitment to finding Osama bin 
Laden, who is believed to be hiding along the Pakistani-Afghan border, 
and other terrorists.

"Part of my mission today was to determine whether or not the president 
is as committed as he has been in the past to bringing these terrorists 
to justice, and he is," Bush said. "He understands the stakes, he 
understands the responsibility, and he understands the need to make sure 
our strategy is able to defeat the enemy."

Musharraf said "if there are slippages" in Pakistan's pursuit of 
terrorists, they have been caused by "implementation," not intentions.

Still, Bush made clear that Pakistan, while an important ally, has not 
earned his trust in the way that neighboring India has.

"I explained that Pakistan and India are different countries with 
different needs and different histories," Bush said. "So, as we proceed 
forward, our strategy will take in effect those well-known differences." 
He did, however, pledged to continue U.S. economic assistance.

Bush spent the entire day here, starting with a welcoming ceremony and 
ending with a state dinner. In the afternoon, Bush, a former owner of 
the Texas Rangers, took a swing at cricket, hitting a few balls and 
bowling -- akin to pitching -- with about two dozen children. He 
presented them with autographed baseballs.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/04/AR2006030400467.html
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