Pakistan’s PM to face tough questions in US

PAKISTAN: Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has left for a three-day visit to Washington to defend his government’s reluctance to use force against Islamic militants blamed by U.S. officials for soaring violence in neighboring Afghanistan.

The trip comes amid intensifying U.S. pressure for Pakistan, a vital ally in its war on terrorism, to move against strongholds that Taliban and al-Qaida militants have established in its border regions.

It will be the first visit by Gilani since he came to power following Feb. 18 elections.

Before his departure Saturday, Gilani told reporters that Pakistan was fighting the war on terror in its own interests.

“This is our own fight. This is our own cause,” he said, noting that his ruling party’s leader, Benazir Bhutto, had died in a terrorist attack on Dec. 27.

Gilani’s three-month-old government is persevering with efforts to negotiate peace deals along the wild frontier and stabilize a country roiled by Islamist suicide attacks. Force will be used only as a last resort, he reiterated this past week.

“Pakistan’s national security and internal stability is paramount,” Information Minister Sherry Rehman said. “Pakistan is making its own policy for its own problems.”

Islamabad, Sunday, AP