Musharraf rejects US call to lift state of emergency

It would appear that Musharraf has started to believe his own publicity which states that he is the only man who can run Pakistan:

President Pervez Musharraf has rejected calls from the US to lift the state of emergency and restore Pakistan's constitution, despite a two-hour meeting with John Negroponte, a senior envoy dispatched by the Bush administration.

Mr Negroponte, the deputy US Secretary of State, left Pakistan yesterday, following meetings with General Musharraf and the deputy head of the armed forces General Ashfaq Kayani, as well as a telephone conversation with the opposition leader and former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto.

Mr Negroponte told reporters that while the US still regarded General Musharraf as a valuable ally, the measures he had taken since imposing a state of emergency on 3 November "run directly counter to the reforms that have been undertaken in recent years". He added: "Emergency rule is not compatible with free, fair and credible elections, which require the active participation of political parties, civil society and the media."

But Mr Negroponte admitted that his presentation to General Musharraf had so far brought no new concessions: "In diplomacy, as you know, we don't get instant replies."

The Bush administration's plans for dealing with Pakistan have always centred on Musharraf, who Bush is said to have a strong personal fondness for. This is based, yet again, on Bush's gut instinct, the same gut instinct which allowed Bush to look into the eyes of Putin and see his soul.

And now, in a very similar fashion to the way he clung on to Rumsfeld and Gonzales - long after the rest of the planet could see that they were damaged goods - Bush now clings to Musharraf.

What we are actually witnessing is a military dictator, having just pulled off his second military coup, telling the US to bugger off whilst retaining the support of the American administration.

If you think of it in those terms it's simply astonishing. And yet that is exactly what we are witnessing.

The stalemate highlights Washington's lack of leverage. It has provided more than $11bn (£5.4bn) to Pakistan since the terror attacks of 11 September 2001, but has clearly shown it does not intend to stop such aid – in fact it has been reported that the US spent an additional $100m over the past six years to help General Musharraf secure his country's nuclear weapons.

And American money continues to flow towards Pakistan and the Pakistani military dictator continues to ignore all America's demands.

Only on Planet Bush would this be possible...

Tags: Musharraf, Bush, Pakistan, military coup