Pak results: US shrugs

‘‘We think Pakistani people and Government have already demonstrated their strong opposition to terrorism and extremism, and their desire to move their society in a more moderate and stable direction. We look forward to working with them on and hope all the parties will be committed to moving in that direction,’’ he said on Friday.

Asked if the victory of hardliners was a reaction to Musharraf’s alliance with US in its war on terror, Boucher said: ‘‘Attitudes towards the US were one of the factors probably in the voting but I don’t know that we did anything that we could say has failed at this point.’’ Boucher said the alliance of religious parties who did well in Baluchistan and Northwest Frontier Province will be ‘‘one of several parties’’ in Parliament.

Meanwhile, Muthahida Majlis-E-Amal (MMA), the alliance of six hardline religious parties has vowed to close down American airbases in Pakistan and ask the US forces deployed in the country to leave.

MMA is all set to form the provincial governments in the key North West Frontier Province and Baluchistan bordering Afghanistan and has won a substantial presence in the Pakistan National Assembly in the Thursday polls.

‘‘These bases in any form in Pakistan are unacceptable to us. We consider American presence a brazen abridgement of the country’s sovereignty and ego and would ask the US forces to leave,’’ Ahmad, the Chief of the Jamat Islami Party, was quoted as saying by the Peshawar-based Pakistan newspaper Statesman. (PTI)