Pakistan Views

New Zealand welcomed on Tuesday the Commonwealth’s decision to readmit Pakistan, saying the South Asian nation has demonstrated its commitment to a return to democracy.Key ministers from the 53-member Commonwealth of Nations met in London on Monday and decided to readmit Pakistan following a six-month suspension.”Pakistan has demonstrated its commitment to returning to democratic governance,” said Foreign Minister Winston Peters, who attended the meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group.”It has repealed emergency provisions that violated constitutional freedoms, and in February conducted successful parliamentary elections that led to the formation of a new government,” he said.Pakistan was suspended on November 22 last year, after President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency, placed the chief justice under house arrest, and detained lawyers, rights activists and opposition members.Peters also welcomed the decision to continue Fiji’s suspension, which followed the bloodless coup in December 2006 led by military chief Voreqe Bainimarama.Bainimarama has promised to hold democratic elections by the end of March next year but little progress has been made in preparing for a vote.”It is clear that Fiji will only be welcomed back into the Commonwealth if and when it meets its own commitments… that it will hold free and fair elections by the end of March 2009,” Peters said.