November 5, 2001	Monday	haba’an 18, 1422

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ISLAMABAD, Nov 4: President Gen Pervez Musharraf is to leave for a five-day visit to the United States, Britain and France on Thursday, Information Secretary Anwer Mehmood said here on Sunday.

During his stay in the United States, President Musharraf will meet President George W. Bush to discuss the regional situation and bilateral issues besides addressing the United Nations General Assembly session, Mr Mehmood said.

On his way back, he will also pay a working visit to Paris and London.

Though the delegation, which is to accompany the president, has not been finalized as yet, Foreign Minister Abdus Sattar and Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz will be included in the team, he said.

The information secretary quashed reports that the US had asked Pakistan to contribute some troops either to the operations against Afghanistan or to a peacekeeping force that may be deployed subsequently.

He contradicted a newspaper report that 15 airbases across the country were being used by the allied forces. Describing it as “baseless” and “incorrect”, he said no offensive was being launched from Pakistani soil.

A number of other Muslim states have been providing support to the US troops, he pointed out, and went on to add that offensive operation and bombing, particularly by the long-range B-52 bombers, was being carried out from their bases.

On the question of refugees, he said Pakistan stuck to its position that relief should be provided to the Afghan people inside Afghanistan.

Pakistan has been playing host to over 2.5 million refugees for the past two decades and the contribution of international community has remained only 13 dollars per refugee per day, he added.

“Our nuclear installations are as secure as any other facility in the world,” he said in reference to the worries being expressed at the international level about the security of Pakistan’s nuclear installations.

APP ADDS: He denied emphatically that any development project had been shelved by the government.

His attention had been drawn to a report that said that the government had put three projects — National Drainage Programme, Flood Control Project and Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway — on ice “for paucity of funds”. Mr Mehmood said these were pending projects of the previous years.