New Delhi: An American daily has hit the US government where it hurts most. The New York Times, in a report has suggested that the country needs to distance itself from Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf.
The paper has stated that the US should not consider Musharraf as an essential ally in its half-baked campaign to promote democracy throughout the Muslim world.
"If Gen. Pervez Musharraf were the democratic leader he indignantly insists he is, he would not be so busy threatening independent news outlets, arresting hundreds of opposition politicians and berating parliamentary leaders and ministers from his own party for insufficient loyalty to his arbitrary and widely unpopular policies," an editorial in The New York Times says.
"Washington needs to disentangle America, quickly, from the General's damaging embrace," the daily further stated.
"Were Washington now to begin distancing itself from the general, it would greatly encourage civic-minded Pakistanis to step up the pressure for free national elections. That's a process the chief justice was trying to make possible when he was fired," the editorial adds.
According to a report in news agency PTI, The New York Times has also called on Washington to support exiled Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif in their campaigns for democracy.
"The United States should be supporting these efforts, not continuing to make excuses for General Musharraf."
The paper has suggested that Musharraf is digging himself into a deeper political hole ever since his dismissal of chief justice Iftikaar Mohammad Choudhry.
Last week, he issued a decree giving himself increased powers to shut down independent television channels, but under mounting pressure he withdrew it over the weekend," the newspaper stated, claiming that more than 300 local political leaders in Punjab were arrested in an effort to head off protests against the decree.
(With inputs from PTI)
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