Washington, May 18: United States supports Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf's vision of a moderate Islamic democracy, including the government's ongoing efforts to improve human rights through public debate, legislative proposals and other initiatives, the State Department said in a report here. "President Bush," a State Department report said, "believes that democracy is essential to achieving Musharraf's vision of a modern, tolerant and prosperous Pakistan, and has publically noted that the us is providing 31 million dollars for civil society initiatives in Pakistan, aimed at broadening political participation and expanding education opportunities, especially for women and girls." At the same time the report, titled "supporting human rights and democracy: the us record 2003-4", says that opposition politicians, lawyers, civil society groups and many in the international community have expressed concerns about the constitutional legitimacy of the Musharraf-sponsored constitutional amendments, and "the government's human rights record remained poor". Although there were some improvements in a few areas, serious problems remained. Some members of the security forces committed serious human rights abuses. Prison conditions remained extremely poor, and police arbitrarily arrested and detained citizens. "The overall credibility of the judiciary remained low," says the report.

Bureau Report