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Pakistan state of emergency ‘regrettable’: Rice, Pakistan state of emergency ‘very worrying’: Swedish FM Bildt,Britain ‘gravely concerned’ at Pakistan events: FM

By admin | November 3, 2007

ISTANBUL: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Saturday called Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf’s decision to declare a state of emergency “very regrettable”, in comments broadcast on a US-based news channel.

“We do not support extra-constitutional measures and we would hope that whatever happens they would be quick to return to the constitutional path,” she said from Istanbul where she is attending an international conference on Iraq.
STOCKHOLM: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf’s decision to declare a state of emergency is “very worrying” and could lead to an escalation of violence, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said Saturday.

“There is a risk that confrontations and conflicts in the country will now escalate,” he said.

“This is serious and very worrying. This is absolutely not the solution to Pakistan’s problems.”

Bildt said his staff had been unable to make contact with the Swedish embassy in Islamabad.
LONDON: Britain is “gravely concerned” at Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s declaration of a state of emergency and urged him to act within the constitution, Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Saturday.

Britain recognised the threats to peace and security in Pakistan, but its future lay in “harnessing the power of democracy and the rule of law to achieve the goals of stability, development and countering terrorism”,” he said.

“I am gravely concerned by the measures adopted today, which will take Pakistan further from these goals,” he said in a statement.

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