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Islamabad: Not so long ago, the Bush administration could take a one-stop approach to its dealings with Pakistan. Whether Washington wanted to carry out airstrikes against Al Qaida, to trade sensitive intelligence or to orchestrate the arrest of a terror suspect, it essentially came down to dialling the number of President Pervez Musharraf.
Now all that has changed. Newly inaugurated Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has vowed to take a hard new look at counter-terrorism, the centrepiece of Musharraf's nearly nine-year rule. He will be backed by a cabinet made up of former opposition figures.
An assertive new parliament is vowing to wield authority that lawmakers here lacked for years, demanding oversight on matters that were previously the president's sole purview. And the general who succeeded Musharraf as army chief just four months ago has methodically removed the military from politics and promised accountability to elected officials.
When it comes to relations with the United States, the public mood is angry. It is probable that some US military actions routinely allowed under the old regime will be subject to greater scrutiny.
Desire to put US on notice
But some analysts and officials said that despite a universal desire to put the US on notice that the centre of gravity has shifted from Musharraf, many basic elements of the American-Pakistani relationship will remain in place, even in security matters.
The new government has pledged to restore Pakistan's status as a parliamentary democracy in which the president has mainly ceremonial powers.
That seems in line with Musharraf's role of late. In the past week, he has occupied himself with duties such as watching a military parade from the reviewing stand and presiding over ceremonies such as the somewhat awkward swearing-in of Gilani, whom Musharraf once jailed for five years.
"It's a sea change," said Talat Hussain, a senior journalist and analyst. "The whole idea of serious undertakings occurring on only one person's authority, without review or scrutiny by any institution - that is the problem that everyone wanted addressed, and now it is being addressed."
The widespread perception of Musharraf as a puppet of the US has been a driving force in events of recent months, including the defeat of the president's party in February elections.
Many Pakistanis believe their army has been fighting what amounts to a proxy war for Americans against militants in the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan and at the same time experiencing horrendous "blowback" in the form of dozens of suicide bombings that have ravaged Pakistani cities and towns.
"All these years, Musharraf did America's bidding," said flower vendor Abdul Rashid, whose soldier son died fighting insurgents in Pakistan's restive northwest. "And we are the ones who have suffered for it."
That chill was much in evidence during a recent visit by two senior American diplomats.
"Hands off, please, Uncle Sam!" a headline in the News, a nationally circulated daily, admonished arriving Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte and Richard Boucher, the assistant secretary of State for South Asian Affairs.
Despite the anger directed at Washington, there still are many areas in which the new government probably will work with the United States, including counterterrorism.
"It wouldn't be fair to characterise it as a change in fundamental goals," said Hussain Haqqani, a Boston University professor who is expected to play a senior foreign policy role in the incoming government.
"In fact, in my opinion, the elected government will be far more effective because it will have popular legitimacy, and whatever commitments are made to the Americans will not be undone on legal or other grounds," Haqqani said.
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