1/19/2005
Rice showers praise on Pervez
T.V.Parasuram
Washington, Jan. 19: US secretary of state-designate Condoleezza Rice has hailed President Pervez Musharraf "as the man who saved" Pakistan from Islamic fundamentalists and paved the way for easing relations with India.
Ms Rice, President George W. Bush’s nominee for the post, was testifying before the Senate foreign relations committee chaired by Republican senator Richard Lugar at her confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
She also revealed that the US has a contingency plan to prevent Pakistani nuclear weapons from falling into the hands of Islamic fundamentalists if they had come to power.
To a question by former democratic presidential candidate senator John Kerry, she said Pakistan has come a long way since two and a half years when it was on the brink of coming under the sway of fundamentalists with its ties to the Taliban and thorough penetration by Al Qaeda. "Now, Pakistan is fighting the Al Qaeda."
Citing the speech Gen. Musharraf made after the attack on the Indian Parliament, she described it as "one of the top ten speeches any leader has given in recent years." In the speech, Gen. Musharraf had said extremism and modernism cannot coexist side by side in Pakistan, and "that gave rise to very promising developments. in south Asia as India and Pakistan start feeling (their way) towards a better future."
"In part, that has been made possible by Pakistan’s unwillingness to be associated with extremism and (decision to move towards better relations with) Indian democracy, and that was a very healthy side of developments there — small steps still and so fragile," she said. Asked whether the US has devised any "fail safe" method to ensure that if something were to happen to Gen. Musharraf and the Pakistani nuclear weapons would not fall into the hands of a radical Islamic state, Ms Rice said, "we are prepared to try to deal with it. I would prefer not to talk about this particular issue in open session."
Pressed on the issue by Mr Kerry, she said, "We are very aware of the problem. In fact, we have had some discussions on it. I prefer not to (discuss it in open session)." "Pakistan’s role from supporting extremists like Al Qaeda and Taliban to fighting the Al Qaeda and the extremists is a huge historical change," she said.
The US, she said, has made great strides in denying the terrorists’ territory controlled by them or was friendly to them. "The Al Qaeda used Afghanistan under the Taliban as its home base. That is no longer so. Pakistan which used to be a strong supporter of the Taliban and was not aggressive against Al Qaeda but now it has changed its policy."
"The Al Qaeda can no longer count on not being pursued in the federally administered tribal areas which had never been governed by Pakistan. Now that territory is denied to them." Ms Rice said the US at this point has a good working relationship with Pakistan and is getting "the information that we need" from Pakistan’s government on the information it has obtained from disgraced scientist A.Q. Khan on nuclear proliferation.
"I don’t know what we will need to ask in the future," she said, "but at this point we have a good working relationship with Pakistan on this." (PTI)