As he resists pressures to step down, embattled Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf got a big boost, getting 'continued' support from United States President George W Bush, a day after Pakistan People's Party leader Asif Ali Zardari made conciliatory gestures.
Washington also maintained it has no role in the formation of a new government in Pakistan amid reports that the Bush administration was guiding the formation of the next setup.
"It will be up to the people of Pakistan to see what their new government will look like. But the president (George Bush) does certainly support him (Musharraf) and has continued to," White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said.
"The President does support President Musharraf for all of the work that he's done to help us in counter terrorism. And if you look at what we asked President Musharraf to do, which is to take off the uniform, to set free and fair elections, and to lift the emergency order, he did all of those things," she said.
US Ambassador Anne Patterson has had a couple of meetings with Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Nawaz Sharif in the last few days after the two opposition parties decided to join hands to form a new coalition following the defeat of Musharraf's allies in the recent Parliamentary elections.
Zardari, who is co-chairman of the PPP, was quoted in The Wall Street Journal as suggesting he would seek a working relationship with Musharraf because the victorious coalition does not have a two-thirds majority in Parliament to impeach the president. "Our main objective is to work for the smooth transition to democracy," he said.
As PPP and PML-N wait for formation of their new coalition government, their leaders have meanwhile sought advice from legal experts to address differences over how to reinstate judges deposed during 2007's emergency.
At the US State Department, Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey said Washington wants to see the formation of a government that is going to be an effective partner for the US, while adding that the components of the new regime will be entirely decided by the people of Pakistan.
"Ultimately, what we want to see happen is the formation of a government that's going to be an effective partner for the US, not only in confronting extremism, but also in helping Pakistan achieve the broad-based goals for that country's political and economic development," Casey said.
"In terms of the specifics of how that's done, of how winds up in a coalition, who winds up in which ministry, what happens in terms of judicial reform or in terms of judicial appointments, those are really matters for the Pakistanis themselves and for the new government to decide," he added.
