By KUNA
Washington : The United States on Thursday condemned the bombing in Lahore that killed more than two dozen police officials, and urged the Pakistani government to continue to move forward with the democratic process.
The bombing shows that there continue to be individuals in Pakistan who are intent on subverting the political process and who have no interest in seeing the Pakistani people have an opportunity to develop a democratic system, said department deputy spokesman Tom Case during a briefing.
U.S. officials will continue to work with the government of Pakistan, and all the major political parties there, to help move forward the process of Pakistani democracy, “particularly as we look toward elections in February,” Casey said.
“We believe that it is critical to Pakistan’s future that it develop as a peaceful, moderate Islamic democracy,” he said. “We believe that part of that means having free and fair elections, and we are pleased to see that there has been an election date scheduled.” Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, who placed Pakistan under emergency rule in November, rescheduled elections for mid-February after the assassination of former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto in late December as she campaigned for prime minister of Pakistan.
“In terms of our relationship with Pakistan, in terms of the war on terror, we are going to continue to serve U.S. national interests, Pakistani interests, as well as the broader interests of the international community, and continue to work with them as they seek to confront Taliban-and-al-Qaeda-supported individuals on Pakistani territory,” Casey said.