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Pakistan and Kenya

My Lords, we repeatedly condemned the removal of the chief justice in statements made at the time it occurred. I welcome the opportunity again to confirm that we saw that as a major blow and a driving factor in the suspension of Pakistan from the councils of the Commonwealth. Restoring the integrity of the justice system to ensure it can operate freely both during and after the coming elections is a critical objective of our dialogue with the Government. We strongly believe that all parties and candidates should be allowed to stand. We have been in frequent contact with Mr Nawaz Sharif and we believe it very important that he and his party are able to participate. On the point about Benazir Bhutto, whom we all so admired, we just hope that her party will not only live up to her commitment to democracy but, as it moves forward, keep the message alight of what she has spoken for and allow new leaders to come into the party from the very exciting new civil-society dimension of Pakistan. This crisis has also shown how thin the bench of leadership is behind people such as Benazir Bhutto.