Embassy Takes Issue with NYT

Washington, DC: The Pakistani Embassy has taken issue with the New York Times over lack of respect shown to President Pervez Musharraf by one of the newspaper writers.
In a letter published by the newspaper on Saturday, the Embassy’s press attaché, Nadeem Haider Kiani, describes as “highly inappropriate,” columnist Nicholas Kristoff writing on 25 March that Pakistanis “seem increasingly fed up with the president’s lies and thuggery. The official asserts that there should be “respect for a person who is respected by millions of people around the world”.
Kiani writes that President Musharraf has always believed in freedom of speech, press and judiciary. “It is the hallmark of the present government to provide basic freedoms and not to politically victimize opponents. The issue of missing persons is very important to the government, and all efforts are being made to find the missing persons. The government is keeping in close contact with the concerned families to help find their loved ones.’’
As for the judicial crisis, the Embassy official writes, “There were some complaints against the chief justice, and these complaints have been sent to the Supreme Judicial Council, an apex judicial forum. The president has thus performed his constitutional responsibilities, and it is for the Supreme Judicial Council to deliberate on the complaints.”

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