Praising Gen not right till Osama held: NYT to Powell

Influential US daily, The New York Times has sharply criticised US Secretary of State Colin Powell for lavishing ‘‘undeserved praise’’ upon Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, urging the general to ‘‘stop manoeuvering against unfettered elections.’’ ‘‘Such declarations diminish American credibility as a consistent force for democracy,’’ the Times said in an editorial.

Powell, it said, struck a ‘‘somewhat surreal’’ note in Islamabad when he announced that Washington was preparing to designate Pakistan a ‘‘major non-NATO ally’’. ‘‘Pakistan’s efforts to capture Dr Ayman Al-Zawahiri are welcome, but it is excessive to offer even a symbolic promotion to one of America’s ‘least reliable’ allies, the paper said.

Behind a ‘‘constitutional facade’’, it said, Musharraf rules as a military dictator, accountable to no civilian authority and basing his power on armed forces.

‘‘It is the Army high command that General Musharraf must negotiate with if he truly wants to move against the Taliban, Kashmiri terrorist groups or the nuclear weapons establishment,’’ it stressed. ‘‘Short of capturing Osama bin Laden himself, there could be no clearer way for General Musharraf to demonstrate how valuable his cooperation can be,’’ it added.