October 20, 2001	Saturday	Shaba'an 2, 1422

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 19: The foreign office here on Friday gave a strong indication of President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s visit next month to the US to address the UN General Assembly meeting and of his possible meeting with Indian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on the sidelines.

Foreign office spokesman Riaz Mohammad Khan told a questioner at his daily briefing that although no final decision had been taken about the President’s visit to the United States, the Pakistan mission in Washington had been advised to request for a slot for the President in the UN General Assembly debate.

The UNGA debate has been rescheduled from Nov 10 to 16, because of the ongoing Afghanistan war.

The spokesman told the questioner that no final decision had been taken as yet about the possible visit of the President to the US which the questioner stated had been arranged in response to the suggestion made by the US Secretary of State Colin Powell during his visit to Islamabad earlier this week.

The Indian prime minister is, however, scheduled to speak during the UNSG debate on its opening day on Nov 10.

Mr Powell was reported to have emphasised on both President Musharraf and Prime Minister Vajpayee that the current tensions in their relations over Kashmir needed to be seriously discussed by them without much delay and hesitation with a view to cooling off tempers on both sides.

The FO spokesman said that thus far there was no visit planned by former Afghan monarch Zahir Shah to Islamabad in order to discuss his reported efforts to convene a Loi Jirga to secure an end to the 22-year-old Afghanistan war and to establish peace and a durable government in that country, representing all parties and groups.

The delegation sent to Islamabad about a week ago by the ex-king was still here and had met President Musharraf, Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar and other officials and some Afghan leaders currently in Pakistan.

The spokesman said he had no knowledge about a peace proposal that Afghan ambassador to Pakistan Mulla Salam Zaeef had reportedly brought from Kandahar and was even unaware whether the ambassador had returned from his Afghanistan visit.

Pakistan is prepared to listen to the proposal from Taliban, if they have any, he added.

The spokesman declined to respond to any questions on the reported arrival of US special ground forces in Afghanistan or any other specific operational issues relating to US forces and suggested that the questions be addressed to Washington.

He, however, reiterated Pakistan’s stance that it would like the anti-terror United States operations in Afghanistan to end as soon as possible, though he recognized that it would depend on how quickly the US and coalition forces were able to achieve the objectives they had set and about which Pakistan claimed no knowledge.

The spokesman said the parameters agreed to by Pakistan concerning the United States military operations in Afghanistan stipulated that no operation would be initiated into Afghanistan from Pakistan’s soil and only in exceptional contingencies logistical facilities would be available on its soil.

He said German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar, during their talks on Friday, discussed in detail the present situation in Afghanistan and also touched upon Pakistan-India bilateral relations, adds APP.

The German minister appreciated the position taken by Islamabad to join international coalition in the fight against terrorism, he said.

“The German minister said there was full normalization of bilateral relations between Germany and Pakistan,” the spokesman added.

On Afghanistan, the spokesman said, both the sides discussed the prospect of a broad-based government in Kabul.

Joschka Fischer, underscoring the sensitivity about enormous refugee influx in Pakistan, promised to urge the European community to do whatever they could in this regard, the FO spokesman said.