ISLAMABAD, 5 March 2006 — US President George W. Bush urged his Pakistani counterpart Pervez Musharraf yesterday to hold “open and honest” elections in 2007 and told him that democracy was the way to defeat terrorism.
Bush told a joint press conference with Musharraf in Islamabad that they spent “a lot of time discussing democracy in Pakistan, and I believe democracy is Pakistan’s future.” He said the elections scheduled for 2007 would be a great opportunity for Pakistan to strengthen democracy that would provide an alternative to radicalism.
“The president (Musharraf) understands that these elections need to be open and honest.” “President Musharraf understands that in the long run the way to defeat terrorism is to replace an ideology of hatred with an ideology of hope,” Bush said.
Musharraf ousted a civilian elected government in a bloodless coup six years ago. Since then he has held general elections in 2002 but reneged on his promise to shed his military role in December 2004.
He changed the constitution with the backing of Parliament, allowing him to hold the position of the president as well as chief of the army until 2007.
“Beyond 2007, this is an issue that has to be addressed according to the constitution of Pakistan. I will never violate the constitution,” Musharraf told the press conference.
Meanwhile, police detained hundreds of opposition supporters yesterday to try to ensure the final leg of Bush’s South Asian tour ended smoothly, sources said.
Opposition parties, including anti-US Islamists, had promised protests against Bush’s visit. The US president arrived in Islamabad late Friday.
Bush met Musharraf at the president’s heavily guarded compound. After their talks the two leaders stood side-by-side, posing for photographs, but they did not talk to reporters.
They were later viewed displays about Pakistan’s Oct. 8 earthquake that killed more than 73,000 people, and meet some of the survivors. The United States has pledged $510 million for reconstruction efforts.
About 1,000 students held an anti-US protest in the central province of Punjab but there were no reports of trouble a day after Islamist parties paralyzed the country with a strike.
Among opposition figures detained was Pakistan’s former cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, who had been planning to lead a march to protest against Bush’s visit, Imran’s party said.
Police put Imran under house arrest yesterday and detained dozens other.
“I have been placed under house arrest just to appease George Bush. You would think I was Osama Bin Laden the way they have treated me,” Imran said.
Imran said he was leaving a friend’s house after supper at around 1 a.m. when police served him with a detention order to stop him leading a demonstration yesterday in Rawalpindi.
“The police had been following me for two days and I was planning to spend the night away from home,” Imran said.
“When I came out from my friend’s house after dinner there were four or five police cars waiting for me.” The police, holding a detention order from a magistrate, then escorted him to his lakeside house near Islamabad where they were guarding him as Bush met Musharraf.
“Bush obviously agrees with Musharraf’s version of democracy, which is to clamp down on anyone who protests against you,” Imran said.
“We wanted to hold a peaceful demonstration, it was our right.” Police later used batons to break up a small demonstration in Rawalpindi by workers from Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaaf, who were shouting: “Killer Bush, Go Back” and “Friend of Bush is a traitor.”
They arrested some 35 people at the scene, witnesses said.
Also in Rawalpindi police foiled an attempt by two non-governmental organizations to stage an anti-Bush rally and arrested 10 activists including six women.
A lawmaker from Pakistan’s main alliance of religious parties who was meant to lead the protest in Imran’s absence was also put under protective detention yesterday, a spokesman said.
Police were holding Hanif Abbasi at his house in Rawalpindi, said Shahid Shamsi, a spokesman for the Muttaheda Majis-e-Amal (MMA).
The MMA called for Pakistanis to observe a “black day” to mark Bush’s visit and around 500 anti-Bush protesters gathered in the central city of Multan waving black flags and wearing black armbands.
“The United States is dreaming of becoming the master of South Asia and it wants to divide Pakistan and Afghanistan into smaller states,” the alliance’s Secretary-General Maulana Fazlur Rehman said. Thousands took to the streets Friday ahead of Bush’s visit. Police tear gassed demonstrators in Karachi and baton-charged others in Rawalpindi. — Additional input from agencies.
