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Pakistan

I do not believe that any member of the Government—including my predecessors, one of whom has just walked in—has been naïve at any stage. Records that I have seen, and conversations in which I have engaged, have revealed in our relationship with Pakistan a clear emphasis on the fact that democracy and free and fair elections are a vital part of its future. That is one reason why human rights and constitutional rule were built into our partnership agreement. As I have said, it would be a tragedy if we began to take backward steps and revisit some of the issues that have taken the country forward over the last four or five years. We are determined to do all we can to avoid that.