The Commonwealth’s Ministerial Action Group, which includes The Bahamas, met in London to put forth their position on the matter, and, as a result, Pakistan’s suspension was lifted. Basil O’Brien, The Bahamas’ High Commissioner to London, represented this country.
Pakistan was suspended by the 53-nation British Commonwealth of Nations after Pervez Musharraf, the then army chief, toppled elected President Nawaz Sharif in a coup in 1999. In 2003, the suspension was renewed and Pakistan was ordered to return democracy to the nation by holding free and fair elections. Musharraf was also told to step down as head of the armed forces.
In October 2002, Musharraf held general elections and has transferred the governing duties to a prime minister. However, he remains the army chief and amended Pakistan’s constitution to give him power to dismiss parliament and the prime minister.
It is against this backdrop that Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon renewed the order for Musharraf to “fulfill his pledge” to separate the offices of president and chief of army staff, which Musharraf made in the 17th amendment to Pakistan’s constitution, by the year’s end. Nonetheless, the Commonwealth welcomed Pakistan’s strides to restore democracy to that nation and will continue to monitor it closely.
As The Bahamas continues to study Commonwealth’s decision, Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell on Sunday said Pakistan should not have been re-admitted, as it was still not in full compliance with the Commonwealth’s conditions.
“I have to study the decision, because very often the press does not report what actually happened. Our own view was that if Pakistan were to be re-admitted it should be done so with conditions. The conditions being that he had to step down as the army chief of staff and that, in fact, remains our position,” the minister said.
Mr Mitchell further noted that The Bahamas petitioned on behalf of CARICOM. Mr Mitchell discussed the issue of Pakistan’s suspension with other Caribbean leaders, however, “most CARICOM countries didn’t have any strong views on the subject, one way or the other.”
Moreover, Mr Mitchell said “geo-politics” began to play a factor, as nations such as Canada and Australia began “pressing” for the re-admittance, particularly because of alliances formed with Pakistan during their fight in Afghanistan.
Nigeria and India, which has some “regional power” in the Commonwealth and whose recent general elections produced a new government, were emulated by several other countries on how to deal with the issue of Pakistan’s suspension.
On the issue, Mr Mitchell said the two nations were “satisfied” that the decision to lift Pakistan’s suspension was a “proper compromise.”
The respective foreign ministers represented Canada, Nigeria, Malta, Lesotho, Samoa and Tanzania at the meeting in London, while India and Sri Lanka were represented by their high commissioners.
Khashan Poitier, The Nassau Guardian
