Rice: Pakistan state of emergency is `highly regrettable'

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Saturday it was "highly regrettable" that Pakistan's president had declared a state of emergency. She urged restraint on all sides and a swift return to democracy. The United States "does not support extraconstitutional measures," Rice said in an interview with CNN from Turkey, where she was participating in a conference with Iraq's neighbors. Gen. Pervez Musharraf suspended the constitution before a Supreme Court ruling on his future as president. His government blocked transmissions of private news channels in several Pakistani cities. Telephone services in the capital were cut.