Is the Bush Administration Pushing Pakistan to Abandon the Rule of Law?
March 5, 2008
For months Human Rights First has been urging the Bush administration to speak up in support of the dozens of senior judges ousted by Musharraf last November. Then, after the elections, we began hearing news reports that the Bush Administration was in fact urging Pakistani politicians to abandon efforts to return them to the bench.
As part of our effort to get to the bottom of this, we urged Senators to ask Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte about this matter in a February 28 hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Senator Feingold (D-Wisconsin) did just that:
FEINGOLD:
Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher told a January 29 House subcommittee hearing, quote, "We have urged the political leaders and other leaders in Pakistan to focus on the need for an independent judiciary. I think it's fair to assume they won't really address it seriously until after the election," unquote.
However, immediately after the elections last week, rather than pressing this point, administration officials were reportedly pressuring the new Pakistani leadership to stop their calls for reinstatement of the judges dismissed by Musharraf when he declared martial law.
So what is the administration's policy regarding reinstatement of the judges? And is it consistent with the Bush administration's stated support for democratic institutions?
NEGROPONTE
As far as the question of the judicial reform, this is something that we believe the Pakistanis themselves are going to have to sort out, and I think that it's something that will be taken up in their legislature, and we will watch that discussion with interest.
And we're certainly not trying to block any changes of any particular kind, nor do we have some kind of prescription or formula for how they should go about reforming or improving their own judicial system.
FEINGOLD
Does the administration have a policy regarding the reinstatement of those judges? Are we asking for that or not?
NEGROPONTE:
We have been silent on the subject. . . . To the best of my knowledge, right.
Negroponte’s first answer is typical of the Bush Administration’s response on the question of the judges: vague support for judicial independence and sudden interest in Pakistan’s autonomy after months of trying to broker political deals and, in the views of many Pakistanis, propping up Musharraf at any cost. His second answer is the most explicit to date about the failure to back reinstatement of the judges, and it comes with that interesting caveat.
The media took note of the interesting exchange. A front-page New York Times article noted, “Mr. Negroponte refused to call for the reinstatement of the judges dismissed last year by Mr. Musharraf when he imposed emergency rule. ‘We have been silent on this subject,’ he said. Then he added, ‘to the best of my knowledge.’”
The AP ran an article that cited Human Rights First’s response to Negroponte’s comments: “After the Senate hearing, a rights group, Human Rights First, expressed disappointment that the Bush administration has not pushed Musharraf to reinstate judges. Aaron Zisser, a member of the group, said Pakistan should immediately reinstate the judges, and ‘U.S. foreign policy, including its aid relationship with Pakistan, should support these measures.’”
Reuters also described the exchange in detail in an article that began, “The United States backs the restoration of an independent judiciary in Pakistan, but has no position on whether judges purged by President Pervez Musharraf should be reinstated, a senior diplomat said on Thursday.” It further noted that “U.S. senators in Washington on Thursday expressed concern the Bush administration had backed away from its insistence on an independent judiciary and appeared to be siding with Musharraf in his refusal to reinstate the judges. . . . [Negroponte] rejected the notion that Washington preferred one side over another in Pakistan's debate over the judiciary reform question.” The headline of the article captured the inconsistency of U.S. policy neatly: “U.S. backs Pakistan judicial reform and mum on judges.”
In Pakistan, a popular English-language daily, The Dawn, wrote, “Senator [Feingold] noted that instead of siding with the judges the Bush administration was pressurising the new Pakistani leadership to stop their calls for reinstatement of the judges.”
As Pakistan moves ahead in its efforts to form a new government, we’ll continue to track this important question.
For months Human Rights First has been urging the Bush administration to speak up in support of the dozens of senior judges ousted by Musharraf last November. Then, after the elections, we began hearing news reports that the Bush Administration was in fact urging Pakistani politicians to abandon efforts to return them to the bench.
As part of our effort to get to the bottom of this, we urged Senators to ask Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte about this matter in a February 28 hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Senator Feingold (D-Wisconsin) did just that:
FEINGOLD:
Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher told a January 29 House subcommittee hearing, quote, "We have urged the political leaders and other leaders in Pakistan to focus on the need for an independent judiciary. I think it's fair to assume they won't really address it seriously until after the election," unquote.
However, immediately after the elections last week, rather than pressing this point, administration officials were reportedly pressuring the new Pakistani leadership to stop their calls for reinstatement of the judges dismissed by Musharraf when he declared martial law.
So what is the administration's policy regarding reinstatement of the judges? And is it consistent with the Bush administration's stated support for democratic institutions?
NEGROPONTE
As far as the question of the judicial reform, this is something that we believe the Pakistanis themselves are going to have to sort out, and I think that it's something that will be taken up in their legislature, and we will watch that discussion with interest.
And we're certainly not trying to block any changes of any particular kind, nor do we have some kind of prescription or formula for how they should go about reforming or improving their own judicial system.
FEINGOLD
Does the administration have a policy regarding the reinstatement of those judges? Are we asking for that or not?
NEGROPONTE:
We have been silent on the subject. . . . To the best of my knowledge, right.
Negroponte’s first answer is typical of the Bush Administration’s response on the question of the judges: vague support for judicial independence and sudden interest in Pakistan’s autonomy after months of trying to broker political deals and, in the views of many Pakistanis, propping up Musharraf at any cost. His second answer is the most explicit to date about the failure to back reinstatement of the judges, and it comes with that interesting caveat.
The media took note of the interesting exchange. A front-page New York Times article noted, “Mr. Negroponte refused to call for the reinstatement of the judges dismissed last year by Mr. Musharraf when he imposed emergency rule. ‘We have been silent on this subject,’ he said. Then he added, ‘to the best of my knowledge.’”
The AP ran an article that cited Human Rights First’s response to Negroponte’s comments: “After the Senate hearing, a rights group, Human Rights First, expressed disappointment that the Bush administration has not pushed Musharraf to reinstate judges. Aaron Zisser, a member of the group, said Pakistan should immediately reinstate the judges, and ‘U.S. foreign policy, including its aid relationship with Pakistan, should support these measures.’”
Reuters also described the exchange in detail in an article that began, “The United States backs the restoration of an independent judiciary in Pakistan, but has no position on whether judges purged by President Pervez Musharraf should be reinstated, a senior diplomat said on Thursday.” It further noted that “U.S. senators in Washington on Thursday expressed concern the Bush administration had backed away from its insistence on an independent judiciary and appeared to be siding with Musharraf in his refusal to reinstate the judges. . . . [Negroponte] rejected the notion that Washington preferred one side over another in Pakistan's debate over the judiciary reform question.” The headline of the article captured the inconsistency of U.S. policy neatly: “U.S. backs Pakistan judicial reform and mum on judges.”
In Pakistan, a popular English-language daily, The Dawn, wrote, “Senator [Feingold] noted that instead of siding with the judges the Bush administration was pressurising the new Pakistani leadership to stop their calls for reinstatement of the judges.”
As Pakistan moves ahead in its efforts to form a new government, we’ll continue to track this important question.
Labels: Pakistan
posted by Neil at
3/05/2008 03:29:00 PM
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