Musharraf assures EU team

Pakistan says it will honour the time-table set by the Supreme Court to hold provincial and general elections and involve the political parties in the process, head of the European Union delegation said yesterday.

Dominique Girard, who led here the EU troika mission, told a news briefing that his delegation had held meetings with General Pervez Musharraf and many other senior government officials with the assurance that the dates announced for the return of democracy would be respected.

The EU officials, who wrapped up their two-day visit to Pakistan, also asked Gen. Musharraf and others to use their influence on Afghanistan, which they charged was exporting terrorism.

They urged Pakistan to sign the comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. However, Islamabad gave no categoric assurance in this regard. The EU delegation ruled out that Pakistan's isolation would serve any purposes and instead said it valued its relationship and consultations with Islamabad.

The delegation leader said that his impression was that Pakistan still considered the contents of the Lahore declaration valid and emphasised that this and the Simla agreement were the best basis available to Islamabad and New Delhi to bilaterally end tensions over Kashmir.

Girard, who is assistance secretary for Asia in the French ministry of foreign affairs, chose to pass no judgement on whether the military government would abide by the Supreme Court time-table, but said his delegation was told that elections would be held as announced.

More interesting

"What is more interesting is that we have been told that political parties would be allowed to participate in the provincial and general elections. We were told that soon after these (local) elections the process would be under way for more elections. So this is a sign of the intention of the Pakistan government. We think we have got some useful information about the timing and process of return to democracy," he said.

The EU delegation head, who met members of the civil society, political leaders and think tanks, summed up his visit as good and successful in that it provided both sides a chance to hear and to be heard in a friendly atmosphere.

Girard said, however, that the delegation told their interlocutors that they thought that democratic process involved elections and this process would be complete only when the political parties were allowed to take part.

He said the EU had also assured Pakistan of technical assistance for elections and Gen. Musharraf had shown keen interest in the proposal.

Answering a question about Afghanistan, the EU delegation chief quoted Gen. Musharraf and others as saying that Pakistan did not have so much influence on the Taliban.s'