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By Rana Jawad, Agence France-Presse
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s new premier has vowed to
tackle Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, but the United States will remain
nervous about the commitment of this frontline state in the “war
on terror”, analysts say.
With the power of stalwart US ally President
Pervez Musharraf eroding fast, Washington sent two special envoys to
Islamabad last week in a bid to woo new Prime Minister Yousuf Raza
Gilani and his government.
Gilani, who is from the party of slain
opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, set out his policies to parliament
on Saturday and said that rising Islamic militancy was the biggest
threat to the nuclear-armed nation.
But his offers to negotiate with militants who
renounce violence has caused jitters among US officials, who are
already reeling from the loss of the “one-stop shop” they had in
the form of former dictator Musharraf.
“The US nervousness will continue for some
time till they recognise the political changes in Pakistan,”
political analyst Hasan Askari told AFP.
“The Americans will closely monitor what
Pakistan is doing against terrorism — they have strong
reservations about negotiation,” said Askari, who is teaching at
the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins
University in Washington.
Missile strikes
A key issue with the new Pakistani government
will be its tolerance for unilateral US missile strikes on militant
hideouts in its mountainous tribal badlands bordering Afghanistan.
The Washington Post reported last week that the
United States was escalating such strikes amid fears that Gilani’s
administration will curtail such attacks.
The strikes followed a “tacit understanding”
with Musharraf and army chief General Ashfaq Kayani that permits US
strikes on foreign rebels in Pakistan, but not against Pakistani
Taliban, the Post quoted officials as saying.
A senior partner in the new coalition
government, former premier Nawaz Sharif, warned the US envoys who
came last week that it was unacceptable for Pakistan to become a
“murder-house” for the sake of US policies.
Nervous on negotiations
“The US appears to be nervous on negotiations
because it thinks they give unnecessary space to the extremists.
Further, the US wanted greater freedom itself to undertake direct
military action in the tribal areas,” Askari said.
“However the recent visit of the US diplomats
to Pakistan has made it clear that the US will have to talk to the
political forces and the parliament for policy on terrorism rather
than rely on one person—Musharraf.”
Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and
Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher spent four days in
Pakistan last week.
Political solutions to the violence are high on
Gilani’s agenda, with his speech on Saturday promising a special
package of reforms for the tribal areas as part of a broad-based
strategy to fighting terrorism.
“We are ready to talk to all those people who
give up arms and are ready to embrace peace,” Gilani said to loud
support from MPs on Saturday.
But officials from Bhutto’s party said
newspaper editorials describing anger at the timing of the US visit
in the week that Gilani was elected by parliament were
“overcooked”.
Tackling extremism
Political commentator and columnist Shafqat
Mahmood said the aims of both US and Pakistani officials remained
the same—to tackle extremism.
Gilani’s speech “shows fighting terrorism is
a very important priority for the new government and the United
States should welcome this statement,” Mahmood told AFP.
But he warned: “Of course, words will have to
be matched with action.”
Najam Sethi, editor of Pakistan’s respected
English-language Daily Times newspaper and a political analyst, said
Gilani’s statements would ultimately reassure Islamabad’s
Western allies
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