US urges Musharraf to end emergency, talk with Bhutto

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ISLAMABAD, Nov 18 (AFP): The number two US diplomat on Sunday urged embattled President Pervez Musharraf to end the state of emergency in Pakistan before upcoming elections and restart talks with the opposition.
John Negroponte said Pakistan's people deserved better than emergency rule which was "not compatible" with holding free and fair polls.
The US deputy secretary of state flew to Islamabad amid growing US concern at the situation in Pakistan, a crucial US ally in the "war on terror" whose political crisis has rattled nerves in Washington.
He met Musharraf and other key officials and also spoke by telephone with opposition leader and former premier Benazir Bhutto.
Speaking to reporters before leaving, Negroponte said it was too early to talk of success or failure of his diplomacy, acknowledging the situation had "polarised somewhat" with Bhutto put under house arrest twice in 10 days.
He urged Musharraf to backtrack on the emergency he imposed two weeks ago, release thousands of political detainees and lift stringent media curbs that have seen private television news channels shut down.
"We do not think that these kind of emergency measures are compatible with the kind of environment that is needed to conduct free and fair elections," he said.
Negroponte said Musharraf repeated his vow to resign as army chief before taking office for a second time as president.
But there was no indication of a date for ending emergency rule, which the military ruler has indicated should remain in place for general elections by January 9.
"The people of Pakistan deserve an opportunity to choose their leaders free from the restrictions that exist under a state of emergency," the US official said.
Negroponte urged Musharraf and Bhutto to restart power-sharing talks they had been holding before the emergency, which Washington had eyed as a moderate bulwark against extremism.
Bhutto appeared to scrap hope of an agreement last week, ruling out further talks and vowing never to serve with Musharraf in government.
Negroponte appealed for compromise. "If steps were taken by both sides to move back towards the kind of reconciliation discussions they had been having previously, we think that could be very positive," he said.
Such talks would "improve the political environment and pull the political actors back from the atmosphere of brinksmanship and confrontation."
Diplomats say Negroponte warned Musharraf that Washington would review its military aid unless the emergency was ended, but he gave no details.
In a related development The New York Times reported on its website Saturday citing unnamed current and former senior government officials, that the administration of President George W. Bush has spent almost 100 million dollars over the past six years on a top secret program to help Pakistan guard its nuclear weapons.