October 21, 2001	Sunday	Shaba'an 3, 1422

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 20: United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has suggested President Gen Pervez Musharraf to visit New York during the Nov 10-16 General Assembly session where Afghan situation is expected to dominate the proceedings.

Foreign Office spokesman Riaz Mohammad Khan told his daily news briefing on Saturday that the secretary-general had phoned the president and invited him to visit New York.

Under the present circumstances, the spokesman said, it would take due time for the president to decide on paying an overseas visit.

Analysts believe that the UN chief’s call is crucial and of great importance not only in relation to the conflict in Afghanistan but also because of mounting tension between Islamabad and Delhi which has added a highly dangerous dimension to the situation.

The question of the president’s visit was under consideration, the spokesman said. There are “many factors” which required to be considered on which would depend the possibility of the visit. He declined to elaborate on the nature of “the factors” and said there were many things involved in a situation like the one prevailing in the region.

APP adds: “There is no question of Pakistani forces participating in any military operation in Afghanistan,” the spokesman said.

He confirmed Afghan commander Jalaluddin Haqqani’s presence in Pakistan. “He is in Pakistan if he has not left today.”

The purpose of his visit was to meet members of the Afghan community. “He also met Pakistani officials,” said the spokesman.

In reply to a question, he said there were many Afghans in Pakistan and they were holding meetings to share opinions and proposals about a broad-based government in their country.

The spokesman confirmed the meeting of Afghan Ambassador Mulla Abdul Salam Zaeef with some high officials of the Foreign Office. “Naturally we are interested in the remarks attributed to him (Zaeef) when he arrived in Quetta on Friday.”