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ISLAMABAD : Pakistan's new Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Saturday fighting terrorism would be his government's top priority, but offered to negotiate with those who renounce violence and give up weapons.
In his first policy statement since securing unanimous backing of MPs in the 342-member lower house of parliament, Gilani termed terrorism the biggest threat to his nuclear-armed nation.
The assurance appeared aimed at calming US concerns about any weakening of Pakistan's key role in the "war on terror" after the shift of power from its staunch ally President Pervez Musharraf to the newly elected powers led by slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto's party.
US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian affairs Richard Boucher held intensive talks with the new leadership here this week to assess their commitment to counter terrorism.
"The fight against terrorism is our own fight because it has claimed innocent lives of children and young men of Pakistan," said Gilani, 55.
Pakistan is reeling under an unprecedented spate of violence which has killed more than 600 people this year. The turmoil is blamed on Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants hiding in the tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
"Our first priority will be restoration of law and order and elimination of terrorism from the country," Gilani added.
"Unfortunately some people have made violence a means to express their views. I appeal to all those people to abandon the path of violence and join us in the journey of democracy.
"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.
He also promised a special package of political and economic reforms for the tribal areas as part of government's broad-based strategy to fighting terrorism and extremism.
Security analysts say Gilani's offer of talks to surrendering militants does not represent a new initiative as a similar approach followed by Musharraf in the tribal belt failed to contain the unrest.
Musharraf's allies lost elections last month, and Gilani told US President George W. Bush earlier this week that a broader approach to the "war on terror" is necessary, including political solutions.
A senior partner in the new coalition government, former premier Nawaz Sharif, warned the US envoys, who spent four days in Pakistan, that parliament would review Musharraf's "one-man" strategy against Islamic extremism.
Sharif said he told them that it was unacceptable for Pakistan to become a "murder-house" for the sake of US policies.
Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party and Sharif's grouping trounced Musharraf's allies in elections in February, a seismic shift in the country's politics nearly nine years after Musharraf seized power in a coup.
Gilani in his Saturday address also reiterated the ruling coalition plans to restore dozens of judges that Musharraf deposed in November last year, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
Musharraf took the action after imposing a state of emergency when it looked like the Supreme Court might overturn his October re-election as president.
- AFP
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