Pakistan PM Pledges Terror Talks

Images (showing 1 of 16 photos)

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan's new prime minister vowed Saturday to make the war on terror his No. 1 priority, but said peace talks and aid programs could be more effective than weapons in fighting militancy in tribal areas along the Afghan border.

It was the new government's latest rebuke of President Pervez Musharraf's military tactics, which many Pakistanis believe have led to a spike in domestic attacks.

Washington is seeking reassurance that Pakistan's new coalition government will keep the pressure on extremist groups using the country's lawless northwest frontier as a springboard for attacks in Afghanistan and beyond.

In his first major policy speech since his swearing-in, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said boosting government services to the region could lure tribesmen away from extremism.

"Our tribal areas have long suffered from backwardness. There is a dire need for comprehensive economic, social and political reforms because poverty and illiteracy is promoting terrorism," said Gilani, a loyalist of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

He promised to abolish criminal codes that date back to British colonial rule and tighten regulation over religious schools, some of which are breeding grounds for militants.

"Controlling these social ills will be a key pillar in our strategy in the war against terrorism," Gilani said. "The war against terrorism is our own war."

Lawmakers gave Gilani a unanimous vote of confidence Saturday, underscoring the transformation of Pakistan's political landscape six weeks after Bhutto's followers routed Musharraf's in parliamentary elections.

In the past, Musharraf and others have also sought to increase government control over Pakistan's wild, mountainous border area, where jihadis flocked during the Afghan-Soviet war in the 1980s and never left. Osama bin Laden and other top al-Qaida suspects are thought to be hiding there.

But the frontier, which includes the remote Khyber Pass, is fiercely tribal and is ruled by chieftains who have resisted occupation since British colonial rule more than 60 years ago.

Gilani did not specify how he would develop the region.

He also said his government was ready to negotiate with some militants — an approach that has already drawn criticism from Washington, the source of about $10 billion in aid to Pakistan since 2001.

In a swift trip to Pakistan, Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Negroponte said he did not see how it would be possible to hold discussions with some "irreconcilable elements who want to destroy our way of life."

"I don't see how you can talk to these kinds of people," he told reporters Thursday.

Two days later, Gilani held steadfast to his policy, saying his government would hold talks with pro-Taliban groups blamed for Pakistan's escalating violence only if they "will throw down their weapons and join the track of peace." His fellow lawmakers thumped their desks in approval.

Pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlur Rehman, whose religious party is part of Gilani's coalition, said Saturday that the real dilemma for the new government will be how to decide which militant groups to engage in dialogue.

"You call them terrorists," he said, "but some of them are giving their blood and protesting those who have attacked their beliefs, their Islamic values."

The prime minister did not utter Musharraf's name during Saturday's speech, nor say whether he would soon push for the embattled U.S.-backed leader's resignation or impeachment.

Gilani now leads Pakistan's first autonomous civilian government in nearly a decade — one that has pledged to slash Musharraf's powers and review his counterterrorism policies.

Hours after he was elected, Gilani freed judges detained by the former army strongman last year in an effort to stop legal challenges to his disputed re-election. He said Saturday he would seek to reinstate the judges, who were replaced by Musharraf appointees, in a move that could prompt yet another showdown with the U.S.-backed president.

The already-diminished Musharraf, meanwhile, spoke to college students in the eastern city of Lahore and advised them to refrain from politics.

"You must not get into politics as there are many things which are not true but are presented as being true," state media quoted Musharraf as saying. "You cannot understand many realities."

___

Associated Press Writer Munir Ahmad contributed to this report.

Back To Top

	Musharraf swears in new prime minister as U.S. envoys arrive for talks - International Herald Tribune	International Herald Tribune	Tue Mar 25	0
	New Pakistani PM orders release of judges	The Sydney Morning Herald	Tue Mar 25	1
	US Envoys Visit Pakistani Frontier	Associated Press	Tue Mar 25	0
	New leader for Pakistan and he frees imprisoned judges	The Globe and Mail	Mon Mar 24	0
	New 'sheriff' in Pakistan, US told	Australian News Network	Wed Mar 26	1