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No such thing as 'good coup', maintains Canada

Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy, answering the critics of Commonwealth sanctions against Pakistan, has said the world could not possibly start distinguishing between good coups and bad coups.

Axworthy, who is to head a Commonwealth mission to Pakistan next week, said those who have suggested that General Pervez Musharraf was better than ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharief were whitewashing the new military regime.

''The best argument was made by the African states at the Algerian [summit] meeting this summer when they said that once you begin to accept a good coup versus a bad coup, then all of a sudden you give total license for military takeovers around the world,'' Axworthy said.

''And at any time somebody decides they don't like the civilian government that's been elected, they can come out of the barracks,'' he added.

Columns and editorials in all of Canada's big newspapers this week have said that General Musharraf's rule could not be much worse than the "corruption" under Sharief, and that many Pakistanis appeared to agree.

''Not only are people not objecting to the coup, they are welcoming it, as are politicians of all stripes. As much as we might hate to admit it, the street has voted for General Musharraf and his beribboned boys,'' said the Toronto Star's Haroon Siddiqui.

''What kind of democracy is Mr Axworthy and his British counterpart Robin Cook proposing to restore in Islamabad? Nawaz-style democracy?'' asked the National Post 's Mark Steyn.

Axworthy, for his part, accused the Canadian columnists of being caught in a time warp. ''Democracy and human rights are not exactly alive and well in Pakistan,'' he stated, adding that those under arrest have not been given access to lawyers or the legal process.

The 54-nation Commonwealth, a grouping of mainly former British colonies, had decided on Monday that Pakistan should be suspended. A final decision on its membership is to be taken at the summit in Durban, South Africa, next month.

UNI

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