Musharraf Gets Full U.S. Backing Despite Crackdowns

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As I’ve pointed out before, the United States has refrained from directly criticizing General Musharraf’s assault on the judiciary and his crackdown on the Pakistani media. And once again, the Bush Administration is paying more lip service to its “commitment to democracy” while giving a military dictator full backing in the same breath.

This weekend, during his visit to Pakistan, the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte gave Musharraf support by stating, “It is up to him (Gen Musharraf) to decide when to take off his uniform but we do want free, fair and transparent elections scheduled for this fall or early next year.” Negroponte makes it clear where America stands: Despite the fact that Musharraf has locked up more than 1,000 opposition activists and shut down Pakistani TV channels that have been critical of him, it’s really up to the good General to decide when to stop being a military dictator.

Negroponte and Musharraf also discussed strong U.S. support for Pakistan government’s FATA Development Plan, “a $ 750 million five-year US support programme that we will begin implementing in the next few months” Money and political backing—what more could Musharraf ask for?

But the administration’s actions certainly aren’t winning us any hearts and minds of the people. As one Pakistani teacher puts it, “America is supporting Musharraf against the people…The reason people hate America here is that they always support dictatorship in Pakistan.”

—Neha Inamdar