Pakistan's new leaders reprimand the Bush administration for using Pakistan as a "killing-field" and relying too much on Musharraf.

The Bush administration is scrambling to engage with Pakistan's new rulers as power flows from its strong ally, President Pervez Musharraf, to a powerful civilian government buoyed by anti-American sentiment, the Guardian said on Thursday.

Top US diplomats, John Negroponte and Richard Boucher, traveled to a mountain fortress near the Afghan border as part of a hastily announced visit that has received a tepid reception, it added.

On Tuesday, senior coalition partner Nawaz Sharif gave the visiting American diplomats, John Negroponte and Richard Boucher, a public scolding for using Pakistan as a "killing field", the paper said.

Meanwhile the new Prime Minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, said he warned President George Bush in a phone conversation that he would prioritize talking as well as shooting in the battle against extremism.

"He said that a comprehensive approach is required in this regard, specially combining a political approach with development," a statement said.

Since 2001, the paper said, American officials have treasured their close relationship with Musharraf because he offered a "one-stop shop" for cooperation in hunting al-Qaeda fugitives hiding in Pakistan.

But since the crushing electoral defeat of Musharraf's party last month, the US finds itself dealing with politicians it previously spurned, the paper added.

The body language between Negroponte and Sharif during their meeting on Tuesday spoke volumes: the Pakistani politician greeted the American with a starched handshake, and sat at a distance.

Sharif told Negroponte in blunt remarks that Pakistan was no longer a one-man show. "Since 9/11, all decisions were taken by one man," he said. "Now we have a sovereign parliament and everything will be debated in the parliament.”

"If America wants to see itself clean of terrorism, we also want our villages and towns not to be bombed," the Guardian quoted Sharif as saying.

AO/GM