WASHINGTON: The United States urged Pakistan on Tuesday to determine through an internal process what the Supreme Court’s decision disqualifying Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani meant for the government as a whole.

Hours after the Supreme Court announced its verdict, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told a news briefing in Washington that the US hoped Pakistan would resolve its internal issues in a just and transparent manner.

“They’ve got to now come to some internal conclusions about what this means for the government as a whole, et cetera, but our hope and expectation is that we will continue to be able to work with Pakistanis to try to finish some of these issues that we need to finish,” the US official said.

“We expect that Pakistan will resolve any of these internal issues in a just and transparent manner in accordance with Pakistan’s own laws and constitution.”

The State Department official noted that the Pakistani government itself was meeting now to decide how to forward from here.

Although the legal dispute over Mr Gilani’s status and future has been going on for some time, the US has continued to work with the Pakistani government throughout this period, “trying to get through some of these issues that have been difficult”, she said.

“So it is our hope and expectation that we’ll be able to continue to do that, but they obviously have to work their internal issues internally,” Ms Nuland said.

Responding to a question on the reopening of Nato supply routes to Afghanistan, Ms Nuland said the technical negotiations were almost over and it’s the political process that needed to be worked out.