By MATTHEW PENNINGTON
The Associated Press
Thursday, September 13, 2007; 1:53 AM
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- A top U.S. envoy praised President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's government Wednesday and skirted the issue of his expulsion of a top political rival, taking some heat off the military leader as he struggles for election to a new term.
Soon after Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte's tribute to Pakistan's anti-terrorism efforts, the army reported killing up to 40 Islamic militants near the Afghan border.
Musharraf is facing hostility at home for sending Nawaz Sharif, the premier he ousted in a 1999 coup, back into exile hours after he returned Monday. The move, in defiance of a Supreme Court ruling, removed a rival opposed to the president's plan to seek re-election by mid-October.
Late Wednesday, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan reported that Musharraf had directed officials to release hundreds of Sharif supporters in time for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema said Thursday provincial authorities have started releasing about 1,000 Sharif supporters rounded up in the days before his attempt to return after seven years in exile _ although Sharif's party claims about 5,000 were detained.
Also Wednesday, authorities barred another opposition leader, Imran Khan, from entering the country's biggest city, Karachi, which is dominated by a pro-Musharraf party. Khan said 300 of his supporters were arrested.
Musharraf, who counts the U.S. as his key foreign backer, also has faced growing international pressure in recent months over his failure to curb Taliban and al-Qaida militants along Pakistan's frontier with Afghanistan.
After wide-ranging talks in Islamabad, Negroponte praised Pakistan's efforts in combating militancy in its tribal areas, where he said more than 1,000 Pakistani soldiers have died since the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, and more troops had been deployed over the past year.
"There is no doubt whatsoever of Pakistan's commitment to restoring and establishing security in that part of the country and more than doing its share in the war against terror," Negroponte said at a news conference.
Pakistani officials said later that army helicopters had killed an estimated 40 insurgents in an assault Wednesday in North Waziristan.
A recent U.S. intelligence estimate concluded a failed peace deal between Pakistan and pro-Taliban militants last year gave space for al-Qaida to regroup in that lawless region.
"There is presence of al-Qaida, there is no doubt about it. But there are no safe havens," said Riaz Mohammed Khan, Pakistan's foreign secretary.
U.S. officials and lawmakers have raised the possibility of making unilateral military strikes inside Pakistan's tribal regions against al-Qaida bases _ angering Islamabad and fueling public antipathy about Musharraf's alliance with America.
Negroponte offered some reassurance Wednesday. "We intend to carry out whatever activities we do in the border in complete respect of the sovereignty of Pakistan," he said.
Asked about Sharif's expulsion, Negroponte offered no criticism. He said it was as "an internal Pakistani political and legal matter and it's for the government and people of Pakistan to decide."
"We look forward to democratic elections being held in Pakistan quite shortly. We think it's important there be a smooth and democratic political transition," Negroponte said.
Sharif was packed onto a flight to Saudi Arabia four hours after his return to Pakistan.
His lawyers have filed a petition with the Supreme Court accusing the government of contempt of court for sending Sharif away. The court ruled last month that Sharif had an "inalienable" right to return to his homeland.
The government, however, claims that when authorities offered Sharif a choice between being tried on corruption charges or leaving the country, he chose exile.
In another case of authorities taking a tough line against government opponents, Khan was halted by police at Karachi airport Wednesday. Khan has angered the city's pro-Musharraf administration by blaming it for violence at an opposition rally May 12 that killed about 40 people.
After Khan was sent back to the capital, riot police stopped him and about two dozen supporters from marching to the Foreign Office, where Negroponte spoke.
"Musharraf has never had any legal authority, but now he has lost all moral authority in Pakistan," Khan told reporters as about 100 police officers with helmets, shields and batons stood by, blocking the road. "He's hanging in there through the help of the United States."
Khan, a former cricket star and now the leader of a small but vocal opposition party, claimed Washington was trying to engineer a power-sharing deal between Musharraf and another former premier, Benazir Bhutto, to help the U.S.-allied general extend his rule.
Such an agreement could defuse legal challenges to Musharraf's attempt to receive a fresh five-year term from lawmakers and quash corruption cases pending against Bhutto, who left Pakistan in 1999.
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Associated Press writers Sadaqat Jan and Stephen Graham contributed to this report.