With Clinton coming, Musharraf declares polls

Gen Musharraf has rebuffed international pressure to return Pakistan to democracy quickly, saying the task ahead is onerous. But today, he said the first round of local elections would be held between December and May 2001. A second round of local elections — at the district level — will be held in July 2001.

District-level elections will run from December to May next year, to be followed by a separate round of district elections in July.

"From here we will move forward, step by step, to provincial and national levels, in due course of time," he said.

"In the second and third stages provincial assemblies are to be followed by elections of the national assembly and the senate," he told a news conference.

The general also said he would also set up special courts for women at district level.

He said all district level elections would be on a non-party basis and voting age would be lowered from 21 to 18 years.

Meanwhile, troops were today deployed in the Pakistani capital today.

Hundreds of army personnel equipped with sophisticated weapons patrolled across the city while the police have been kept in reserve only to help the troops in maintaining law and order, officials here said.

Reduction of tension between India and Pakistan, issues of non-proliferation and international terrorism will be high on the agenda of talks between Clinton, who arrives on Saturday from India, and General Musharraf.

Foreign Minister Abdus Sattar yesterday hoped Clinton’s talks with Pakistan and Indian leaderships on issues of peace and security in South Asia might result in opening the door for a peaceful settlement of the Kashmir issue.

After his talks with Prime Minister Vajpayee in new delhi, Clinton publicly declared that he would take up the issue of cross-border terrorism during his talks with Gen Musharraf.

Clinton also wants Gen Musharraf to take steps for an early return to democracy besides cracking down on terrorist groups, showing restraint on nuclear and missile programmes and making a real effort to creat the conditions for dialogue with India.

Meanwhile, voicing concern over implications of a new Indo-US relationship, Pakistani newspapers felt that the engagement would give New Delhi’s "clout at the Capitol Hill more weight".

English daily The News commented editorially that the new chapter emerging from Clinton’s visit to India would "strengthen" New Delhi’s voice on "critical issues" like Kashmir, terrorism and Afghanistan.

"And that is Pakistan’s challenge: Dealing with an adversary that now stands next to the knee of a super power," it said.

Another English daily The nation said the "special treatment" being meted out to India by the US "is bound to cause considerable concern in Pakistan, which remained an American ally throughout the cold war."

Earlier, Musharraf said he would press Clinton to bring peace to South Asia when they meet here on Saturday.

"There are a lot of things I am going to discuss with him. I would like to give him a message that we want peace in the region because no progress in the region is possible without peace," said Musharraf, the army chief who seized power in a coup here in October.

"I want to be very frank with him and tell him clearly that peace can be brought about here by addressing the issue which is bedevilling us," he said.

"This main crux of the issue must be addressed," Musharraf said, in a reference to Kashmir.

"I do not think that President Clinton will go away from the region having endorsed India’s point of view in the dispute. I am confident we will moderate his viewpoint," Musharraf said.

The Pakistani general said he condemned the massacre of 36 Sikhs in Kashmir on Monday and said a high-level investigation should be held into the killings.