By Zeeshan Haider ISLAMABAD, March 26 (Reuters) - Pakistan backs the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism but a comprehensive approach that includes political solutions is needed to tackle the problem, Pakistan's new prime minister told U.S. President George W. Bush. Bush called Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Tuesday, hours after President Pervez Musharraf swore him in and as U.S. envoys sounded out Pakistan's new civilian leaders on militancy. Musharraf, a former general who seized power in a 1999 coup, has been a staunch U.S. ally since the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States but he has become increasingly isolated after his allies suffered defeat in Feb. 18 parliamentary elections. Analysts say the United States wants to ensure the new coalition government maintains Musharraf's commitment to tackling militants. Some coalition leaders have spoken of the need to hold talks with militants and that has raised questions about Pakistan's security strategy, especially with Musharraf's power ebbing. "Pakistan would continue to fight terrorism in all its forms and manifestations since it is in Pakistan's own national interest," Gilani told Bush, according to a government statement obtained on Wednesday. "However, he said that a comprehensive approach is required in this regard, specially combining a political approach with development programmes," the government said. Gilani is a senior official of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, which won the most seats in last month's elections. He is forming a coalition government with the party of another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, whose party came second, and at least other two smaller parties. Musharraf's support for the U.S.-led campaign has been unpopular with many Pakistanis who say he has been doing America's bidding and inciting militant violence. PRAISE Gilani told Bush Pakistan was committed to maintaining long-term close ties with the United States. Bush assured Gilani the United States would continue its support for Pakistan and praised it's role in fighting terrorism, which he said was a threat to both countries, it said. The White House said on Tuesday Bush and Gilani had agreed to maintain their alliance against Islamic militants. The United States has previously criticised peace pacts Pakistani authorities struck with Pakistani militants aimed at isolating their foreign al Qaeda allies. Two senior U.S. officials, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, arrived in Islamabad on Tuesday hours before Gilani was sworn in. They met Musharraf and main leaders of the new coalition, including Asif Ali Zardari, Bhutto's widower and her political successor, and Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf overthrew in 1999. Sharif told the U.S. officials that security would no longer be Musharraf's unpopular "one-man show". The new parliament would review Musharraf's policy of curbing militancy and make recommendations, he said. Negroponte visited an ethnic Pashtun tribal region in violence-plagued northwest Pakistan on Wednesday, Pakistani state television said, and he was due to meet Gilani later in the day. (Editing by Robert Birsel)
Turkish riot police take cover behind an armoured personnel carrier to protect themselves from petrol bombs and stones hurled by Kurdish protesters during clashes after the Newroz day celebrations in the ...
