Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon on Friday defended the organisation's decision to suspend Pakistan pending steps by President Pervez Musharraf to bring back democracy.
"In these circumstances, you can be assured that every country that has been suspended will say that we didn't understand the unique circumstances that prevailed in their country at the time," McKinnon said.
"We think we did," he added. An ultimatum set by the Commonwealth earlier this month for Musharraf to step down as army chief, free judges and opposition supporters, and lift curbs on the media expired on Thursday at 1900 GMT. "We still believe that the democratic institution is best to deal with these issues than is any kind of unilateral type leadership situation," the outgoing Commonwealth chief said.
"There was no doubt in the mind of the Pakistan government what was expected of them by the Commonwealth, they never really opposed that," McKinnon said. He admitted that there had been differences within the nine-country ministerial committee that decided to suspend Pakistan, notably objections from Sri Lanka, but stressed the move was the result of consensus. Diplomatic sources also said that Malaysia had opposed punishing Pakistan.
The suspension is a largely symbolic measure, which excludes Pakistan from Commonwealth meetings and the Commonwealth games and will limit the technical assistance it receives from the organisation.
"I welcome the decision made, in the hope that they will take notice so that they can return to the Commonwealth," one head of government who asked to remain anonymous told AFP.
A senior African official said he hoped it would inspire other members to ensure that democratic freedoms are respected. "The developing world, and Africa in particular, is turning over a new leaf in terms of democratic governance.... The signal being sent by this decision today is a signal that will provide lessons by other nations who might be thinking of doing similar things as in Pakistan," the official said.
Human Rights Watch was also pleased and hoped the Commonwealth would follow it up by taking on a more active role in international diplomacy, spokesman Reed Brandy told AFP. "This was a victory for the people of Pakistan who were looking to the Commonwealth to say that Musharraf's bludgeoning of democratic rule and the constitution have no place in an institution like the Commonwealth."