WASHINGTON, March 11: The Bush administration’s message on Tuesday to Pakistan’s politicians: We will work with you, but please keep up the fight against extremists.

With remarks like that, State Department officials are signalling a willingness to work closely with Pakistan’s two leading parties, both critical of President Pervez Musharraf, a long-time US ally under mounting political pressures at home.

“It’s up to you how you form the government, how you try to help society,” said Richard Boucher, the assistant secretary of state who oversees South Asia policy. “We have talked to all the parties, telling them all, ‘We will work with whoever emerges as the leadership.’’’

Along those lines, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said it “is completely up to the Pakistani political leaders to decide upon how they are going to arrange themselves in terms of power-sharing arrangements ... and all of the things that come along with forming a government.”

“We want to work with the government. We want to work with society. You cannot say this too often,’’ Boucher said at the Nixon Center, a private Washington think tank.

Boucher commended the move to restore judges removed a year ago by Musharraf. Sharif and Zardari on Sunday called for the newly elected parliament to adopt a resolution for restoration.

In addition to supportive remarks for PML-N and PPP, Boucher made plain the administration’s goal was “to continue support to counter terrorism.”

“Keep up the pressure against the most dangerous elements, and that includes Al Qaeda and Taliban,” he said.—AP