|
Lobbyists, Democrats pressure Bush, Pakistan government for fair elections |
|
By Kevin Bogardus
|
|
Posted: 08/03/07 07:03 PM [ET] |
Lobbyists for a Pakistani opposition party are urging top Democrats to press the Bush administration and President Pervez Musharraf to promote free and fair elections in Pakistan this year.
Under contract with the Pakistan People’s Party, led by former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, lobbyists with BKSH & Associates have made dozens of contacts with Capitol Hill, the State Department and think tanks around Washington.
Advocates have distributed tough-talking letters on Pakistan’s need for renewed democracy, signed by the chairmen of the House Foreign Affairs and the Senate Foreign Relations committees, Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) and Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.).
“Our key message has not wavered: Robust U.S. support for free and fair, internationally monitored elections in Pakistan remains critical, as does U.S. support for the safe return and participation of opposition candidates,” a BKSH director, Lisa Cotter Colangelo, said.
Her firm has earned more than $80,000 since January for its work on behalf of Bhutto’s party, according to records filed with the Justice Department.
Bhutto’s campaign in the United States has gathered pace as her rival has suffered. Political protests have picked up in Pakistani streets, and Musharraf’s ineffectiveness in combating terrorists within his borders was questioned this week in a strong speech from presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).
In addition, legislation based on the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations states that aid to Pakistan should be predicated on its “demonstrable progress” toward achieving “democratic reforms” as well as its efforts to combat al Qaeda and Taliban fighters. The bill was passed easily this week and awaits President Bush’s signature to become law.
Messages left for press officers at the Pakistani Embassy were not returned before deadline for this story.
The former prime minister reportedly has been in talks with Musharraf on a power-sharing agreement. In exile since 1996 due to corruption charges, Bhutto has said she will return to Pakistan to participate in this year’s elections. Musharraf, still the army’s chief of staff, rose to power following a 1999 coup.
Like Obama’s speech, the letters by members of Congress pull no punches. In a March 12 letter to Musharraf signed by Sens. Biden, John Kerry (D-Mass.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), the lawmakers argue that unless Bhutto’s party and others can campaign freely, it will be difficult to treat the 2007 elections “as a true expression of democracy.”
The senators’ letter urges Musharraf to arrest Taliban officials believed to be hiding out along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan. A recent National Intelligence Estimate described Pakistan as al Qaeda’s new safe haven.
Lantos and Biden also sent a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on June 1. They ask the Cabinet member to “forcefully” raise the issue of Musharraf’s actions against protesters with his government and make a “public appeal” for restoring “full democracy.”
Musharraf’s attempt to dismiss Pakistani Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry ignited large protests by lawyer associations.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.) also signed the letter to Rice and so far is the lone Republican to side with Democrats in their criticism of Musharraf in the correspondence.
Letters by Biden and others are part of Bhutto’s larger effort here in America. Bhutto toured congressional offices in February, while Pakistan People’s Party officials have visited Capitol Hill during the spring and summer.
Lobbyists for the party also have distributed a scathing report on Pakistan’s voter rolls, describing the lists as full of “errors, duplications and missing voters.”
Using field analyses from a variety of officials from different Pakistani political parties, the “informal review” was published by the Centre for Civic Education Pakistan, a civic organization based in the country, and received funding from the National Endowment for Democracy. Pakistan’s 2002 elections were troublesome as well.
Led by Cotter Colangelo, who has more than 15 years of experience in representing foreign opposition parties, BKSH is using its partners to help Bhutto’s party.
BKSH’s affiliate, Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, has worked on polling research for the party.
Parent company Burson-Marsteller LLC is handling an extensive media campaign, with the former Coalition Provisional Authority’s communications director in Iraq, Robert Tappan, taking the reins.
Lobbyists have handed out several op-eds critical of Musharraf, including columns by Bhutto and an editorial by The New York Times, entitled “Propping up the General.”
But in choosing between Musharraf and Bhutto, Capitol Hill has not come to “a consensus view,” according to a congressional aide with experience in foreign affairs.
“There are those who toe the line with the administration and will not admonish Musharraf, even on free and fair elections,” while others “take a pragmatic view and say perhaps we should encourage this coalition of Musharraf and Bhutto,” the aide said.
|
