Paks angry at US envoys presence

Karachi, 2008 Mar 27, IRIB

Outrage intensified in Pakistan on Thursday over the timing of a visit by two senior American envoys.

Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher began meetings in Islamabad just as newly elected Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani was taking his oath of office Tuesday.

Gilani now leads Pakistan's first autonomous civilian government in nearly a decade - one that has pledged to slash Musharraf's powers and review his counterterrorism policies.

Negroponte and Boucher traveled Thursday to the southern city of Karachi.

The American embassy said the envoys would meet with provincial officials and the American business community there.

But many Pakistanis believe their trip was ill-timed and betrayed America's meddling in domestic politics.

In an editorial Thursday, the newspaper Dawn said the envoys came to Pakistan "in indecent haste."

The visit was "not in keeping with diplomatic propriety," it read.

"The Americans would do well to give space to the new government to draw up its policy. So far Washington's close and overt involvement in the war on Pakistan's soil has only fueled anti-American sentiments," it said.

The newspaper News urged American officials to `restrain themselves in further meddling in Pakistan's affairs.'