Commonwealth to review Pakistan’s suspension after polls

The Commonwealth could review Pakistan’s suspension after the country’s parliamentary elections next month, the 53-nation group’s secretary general, Don McKinnon, said here on Monday.

An evaluation on the return of democratic government and the rule of law in Pakistan will be made by a Commonwealth ministerial team invited to the country after the February 18 elections, he said.

“The fact that they are inviting us to come back after the elections is a very strong point,” Don McKinnon told AFP in an interview in Washington.

Pakistan was suspended for the second time from the federation of mostly ex-British colonies in November after President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency, sacked top judges, detained lawyers, rights activists and opposition members and curbed press freedom.

Islamabad had called the suspension “unreasonable and unjustified” and threatened to pull out from the organisation, as Zimbabwe has done.

“I am satisfied they want to continue their relationship with the Commonwealth,” McKinnon said.

During their trip to Pakistan, representatives of the Malaysia-led Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, which decide on membership suspension issues, would “want to see what has happened” since the suspension, “and things like rebuilding the confidence of the judiciary, freedom of the press will be very much part of that.

“The ministers will come back clearly with their findings, that may necessitate bringing the whole ministerial action group back together” to discuss the issue, he said.

McKinnon, on annual visit to meet US officials to discuss issues such as reforms in Pakistan, said the Commonwealth “do remain concerned” over the fate of the upcoming elections and the need for them to be free and fair.

On demands by Pakistan opposition leaders for the reinstatement of the deposed chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad, who is under house arrest, McKinnon said “there must be a lot of commitments attached to rebuilding the independence of the judicary.

“One of my greatest criticisms on President Musharraf is you cannot just fire the judiciary. If you’ve got judges who are inadequate you should go through an impeachment procedure. An independent judiciary is a very strong tenet of the Commonwealth,” he said.