Foreign Secretary David Miliband will emphasise the need to continue fighting terrorism, during talks with Pakistan's new prime minister.

He will meet Yusuf Raza Gillani and express support for Pakistan's newly-elected coalition government's moves towards dialogue with extremists.

Mr HK remembers Chinese war dead ...
Dozens of Pakistani judges freed ...
Pakistan PM orders judges freed ...
Russian presidential elections uneven - Czech Foreign Ministry ...
UK 'making terror flight apology' ... Gillani has already told parliament in Islamabad his top priority is the fight against terrorism and extremism.

Mr Miliband has backed the country's readmission to the Commonwealth.

The foreign secretary has been visiting Pakistan to assess the prospects of a change of strategy to counter terrorism and radicalisation.

On Sunday he said military strategy had to be combined with dialogue in both Pakistan and Afghanistan - reaching out to those willing to work within the Constitution.

"It's very important that on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border a message clearly goes out - if you're willing to play by the rules of the constitutional game, there is a place for you, and we want reconciliation to be pursued at a local level," he added.

He also praised the country's recent democratic progress and said it was time for Pakistan to once more become a member of the Commonwealth.

"We have seen press freedoms extended again. We have seen democracy have its day despite violence.

"We have seen constitutional rules being re-established and so I think that means we should work urgently to bring Pakistan back into the Commonwealth family."

'Militant talks'

Mr Miliband earlier expressed a wish for the new government to build a stable coalition "which will last for the full four or five years with a programme which takes Pakistan forward".

Pakistan's new prime minister is a member of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), whose leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in December.

He was sworn in as prime minister in March at the head of a coalition between the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

Mr Gillani immediately said the government was willing to talk to militants who laid down their arms and he announced measures that could lead to integrating Pakistan's lawless tribal areas into the rest of the country.

The prime minister promised to reduce perks for government ministers and also lifted a ban on student and trade unions, abolished more than two decades ago.

The parties' success in the 18 February general election was seen as a blow to President Pervez Musharraf.

(BBC)

<< Back