US senators deny calling for Musharraf to quit

Democratic Senator Joseph Biden and Republican Chuck Hagel, who travelled to Pakistan as part of a three-member Congressional election observer delegation, have denied that they called for Pakistan President Pervez Musharrafs resignation, and added that they also opposed any notion of a presidential impeachment by the new parliament.

Washington, Feb.28 : Democratic Senator Joseph Biden and Republican Chuck Hagel, who travelled to Pakistan as part of a three-member Congressional election observer delegation, have denied that they called for Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's resignation, and added that they also opposed any notion of a presidential impeachment by the new parliament.

"What we all three have been saying is that if, in fact, he's treated with some respect by the parties that are forming the government, I believe that he will, in fact, step back from the exercise of the kind of power he's tried to exercise," the Daily Times quoted Biden, who heads the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as saying.

"I've been reported to have said that I called for him to step down. That's not what I said," he clarified.

He said that Musharraf if treated with respect would "gracefully draw back, meaning not attempt to exercise the role of the prime minister, but exercise the role of the president. And so that's what I mean when I say the transition is under way".

In the Public Broadcasting Service programme, Biden said the Pakistani leader "made it pretty clear to us that he understood his role as president".

"My goodness, what I said yesterday - go back and check the record on CNN - is that, first, the leaders who will form a new government, a coalition government, will need to work this through. Certainly, it's up to them, the Pakistani people, represented by their leaders," Hagel told the same programme..

He said Musharraf had accepted the elections and felt confident and comfortable when the delegation met him on the morning after the polls and he had accepted those results.

Hagel also acknowledged Musharraf's vital role as an ally in the fight against terrorism, both in the interests of his country and of the world.

ANI