ISLAMABAD, 11 August 2007 — US point man for South Asian Affairs Richard Boucher will visit Pakistan next week on a previously scheduled trip that comes shortly after the Pakistani president rejected calls to declare a state of emergency, a US official said in Washington on Thursday.
Yesterday, several Pakistani newspapers reported that it was a telephone call from US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, which prevented President Pervez Musharraf from imposing emergency in Pakistan.
However, the official said its timing was not related to Musharraf’s decision on Thursday against declaring a state of emergency, a step that if taken would probably have delayed Pakistani elections due by the turn of the year.
“Boucher will travel late next week to Pakistan for one of his regular consultations that falls now at a very interesting time,” said the US official, who spoke on condition that he not be identified because the trip has not been announced publicly.
The official declined to say exactly when Boucher would be in the country or whether he was expected to meet Musharraf or Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, saying that the US diplomat’s schedule is not yet finalized.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court Yesterday gave 30 days to the Election Commission to register all eligible voters for the next election after complaints that millions of citizens were missing from draft electoral lists. About 28 million voters have been denied their right to franchise due to non-availability of National Data Base Authority’s ID cards.
