Musharraf resists US call to end decree

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PESHAWAR, Nov 18(AP): Rival Sunni and Shiite Muslims clashed Sunday in a northwestern Pakistan town where three days of sectarian violence has left 91 people - most of them civilians - dead, officials said. The military said it was sending forces to the area to quell the fighting.
Both sides fired mortars and other heavy weapons at each other in the town of Parachinar late Saturday and early Sunday, targeting residential areas and hitting mosques, an intelligence official said.
Meanwhile another report adds, US Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte reported no breakthroughs in the two-hour meeting, during which he urged Pakistan President Parvez Musharraf to lift a harsh emergency decree and to reconcile with opposition leader Bhutto.
In the talks, the Pakistani leader reiterated his pledge to hold parliamentary elections in January and step down soon as military chief, Negroponte said.
But no date was set for ending the emergency decree, lifting media restrictions or freeing thousands of political prisoners arrested since the emergency rule was imposed two weeks ago.
Negroponte's meeting with Musharraf represented the most urgent US appeal to date for the Pakistani leader to end the state of emergency, considered by most observers to be de facto martial law.
Opposition leaders have said a free and fair vote is impossible while the decree remains in place.
The general, however, defended his actions, saying he had acted in the interests of democracy.
Musharraf told Negroponte that amid an intensifying Islamic insurgency, emergency measures were needed to ensure that January parliamentary elections could be held safely, said a senior Pakistani official.
Violence between Shiites and Sunnis is common in Parachinar, the main town in the Kurram tribal area. In April, clashes between the two sects, sparked by an attack on a Shiite mosque, left about 50 people dead.