WASHINGTON, July 7: The United States has said that despite an attempt on his life it expects President Gen Pervez Musharraf to continue the reform process he has started. On Friday, gunmen allegedly fired shots at Gen Musharraf’s aircraft, apparently in an assassination attempt involving anti-aircraft guns.

“President Musharraf faces threats from extremists within his own country. That’s not new,” said State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack when asked to comment on the incident.

“His prescription for dealing with this threat is to put Pakistan on a different course, with greater political reform, economic reform, social reform,” the spokesman said. “He started that process. We think it’s important that he continues.”

The US official said that Washington believed the Pakistani president was committed to that course and he would deal with it within the confines of Pakistani law and the Constitution.

When reminded that authorities in Islamabad were still reluctant to describe the incident as an attempt on Gen Musharraf’s life, Mr McCormack said: “I’ll leave it to the Pakistani officials to talk about what did or did not happen”.