No ‘evidence’ that Pakistan govt is ‘drowning’: Holbrooke

ISLAMABAD - Ruling out the possibility of Pakistan government’s immediate fall, the United States has said that there is no proof to substantiate speculation that the PPP-led coalition government was on its way out.

“I don’t see evidence that the government is drowning,” the Dawn quoted US Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, as saying, in a talk with a group of journalists.

In a clear hint that Washington was continuing to support the government, he appreciated the government’s performance, while regretting that extra attention was being paid to the possibility of political change in Pakistan.

“They (Pakistan government) are doing the best they can in unbelievably difficult circumstances,” said the US envoy.

During his meeting with Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, whom he rates as an ‘enormously powerful political factor’ in Pakistan, Holbrooke said that the Obama administration was least interested in politics at this stage.

The US may not see any imminent threat to the current government, but recent activity indicates it is clearly worried about Pakistan’s economic crisis and the challenge of reconstruction and rehabilitation that it faces in the aftermath of the floods, the paper said.

For quite some time the country has been in the grip of rumours that a political change is imminent, and an inept handling of flood relief efforts and the mounting public frustration has fuelled these rumours. (ANI)