ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Taliban-style militants battling government forces in northwest Pakistan said Sunday they wanted dialogue with the winners of parliamentary elections and urged the new leadership to abandon President Pervez Musharraf’s war on terrorism.
The party of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, which will lead the government, called for an end to military operations against autonomy-minded insurgents in another restive area — the southwestern province of Baluchistan, where the U.S.-backed Afghan government thinks the Taliban leadership might be hiding.
Opposition parties trounced Musharraf’s allies in Feb. 18 parliamentary elections. The results were seen as a public repudiation of Musharraf’s policies, including his alliance with the U.S. in the war on terrorism.
The election results have fueled calls inside and outside Pakistan for Musharraf to step down. Two U.S. senators on Sunday urged a “graceful exit” for the unpopular president but stopped short of supporting efforts to remove him from office.
“I firmly believe if they do not focus on old grudges — and there’s plenty in Pakistan — and give him a graceful way to move,” then it could happen, said Joe Biden, a Democrat from Delaware who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, echoed the sentiment. Both spoke on ABC’s “This Week” after meeting with Musharraf.
Maulvi Umar, spokesman for the Islamic militant Tehrik-e- Taliban, said Sunday his group welcomed the victory of anti- Musharraf parties and was eager to talk with them about ways to bring peace to northwestern tribal areas, where U.S. officials think Osama bin Laden might be hiding.
