With Pakistan's ruling coalition gunning for President Pervez Musharraf, the United States has said that he made a "number of mistakes" during his eight-year reign including imposing a state of emergency last year.
"I have said.... to him that he made a number of mistakes. And I thought that the state of emergency was a mistake," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview.
The Bush administration official said that the issue of Musharraf's resignation was an "internal matter" of the country but insisted that he "has been a good ally" and did a "great thing for his country by giving up uniform and bringing back civilian rule.
"This is clearly a Pakistani matter. He's the President of Pakistan and we'll treat him as the President of Pakistan. But Pakistan is in a period now of bringing its new democratic institutions into being. They will work through these matters," she told CNN when asked about Musharraf's ouster during an interview whose transcript was released by the State department.
The Pakistan Peoples Party which leads Pakistan's ruling coalition has already declared that Musharraf's days as president were numbered with its Chairman Asif Ali Zardari saying over the weekend that he was planning a strategy with ally Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz for the President's ouster.
PML(N) chief Nawas Sharif has been demanding that Musharraf be impeached and held accountable for all his actions while at the helm.
Rice added "But President Musharraf has been a good ally. He did a lot for Pakistan in bringing it into civilian rule. And he's somebody that we will continue to treat with respect. Musharraf did a great thing for...his country, he took off the uniform, he brought them back to civilian rule. He really did set them on a course that was not an extremist course."
Rice said that threats by Afghanistan to pursue Taliban insurgents across the border into Pakistan were "not wise" and instead called for cooperation between the two nations. Afghan President Hamid Karzai had angered Pakistan when he threatened cross-border action as a right of "self-defence" against Taliban forces.
"I think it's probably not wise to talk about Afghan cross-border operations, I think it's better that Pakistan and Afghanistan cooperate on their respective sides of the border," Rice said adding, "There are Taliban operating in Afghanistan who have to be defeated. And there are Taliban who are operating in Pakistan, and they have to be defeated, too. But I think it's probably better that the respective governments deal with their own problems."
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi condemned Karzai's "irresponsible, threatening" comments and said Pakistan would "defend its territorial sovereignty."
Rice was also asked as to why the US had not called for the restoration of the judicial system and of the perception in Pakistan that the "studious silence" on the issue is a vote of support for Musharraf .
"...an independent judiciary is critical to democracy. There are some issues, because this one is highly politically charged in Pakistan, and I think that we have always believed that after the elections, this will be worked out in course between Pakistanis," Rice said.
"... I don't know how this would turn out if thejudiciary were to come back into being, because one doesn't know under what circumstances or how they would do it," The US secretary of state said.
