WASHINGTON, March 24: Two senior US officials arrive in Islamabad on Tuesday for talks with the new government in Pakistan while officials in Washington take a cautious approach to the new prime minister’s first order of releasing the judges.
“These are issues for the Pakistanis to work through,” said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack when asked to comment on Prime Minister-elect Yusuf Raza Gilani’s decision to release the judges.
Interestingly, the news of Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary Richard Boucher’s visit to Islamabad first came from the Pakistani capital.
In Washington, diplomatic sources also confirmed the visit but the State Department was not willing to release their itinerary, saying only that the two officials were not in their offices.
Diplomatic sources, however, confirmed that the two senior officials were also expected to meet President Pervez Musharraf, a strong US ally weakened by recent political developments in Pakistan.
The news of the visit to Islamabad by two senior US officials came hours after the National Assembly elected Mr Gillani as the country’s new prime minister.
Diplomatic sources said the officials would discuss issues related to Pakistan-US relations, recent political development in Pakistan, war on terror and regional security situation in their meetings in Islamabad.
Meanwhile, the White House said earlier on Monday that it had already conveyed its congratulatory message to the new Pakistani prime minister and was looking forward to close cooperation with the new government in wide-ranging areas.
“This morning we expressed our congratulations to the new prime minister and we look forward to working with the new government in Pakistan,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters.
“We had good relations with them over the past; we hope that continues in lots of different areas we can cooperate, not just counterterrorism but across the board.”
At the State Department, Mr McCormack described Mr Gilani’s election as “the selection of the Pakistani political leadership and the Pakistani people.” The United States, he said, looked forward to working with Mr Gilani and his government.
“Pakistan is a good friend and ally. And we have a whole variety of mutual, overlapping interests we look forward to working with them on,” he said.
“Beyond that, I don’t know that there’s much more to add than -- other than our congratulations to his election as prime minister.”
