December 5, 2001	Wednesday	Ramazan 19, 1422

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ISLAMABAD, Dec 4: Pakistan on Tuesday condemned the Israeli military strikes on Palestinian installations, targeting President Yasser Arafat’s residence, Palestinian Authority’s office and police buildings and called on the United States to resume peace negotiations as initiated recently by the US secretary of state.

In a prepared statement, foreign office spokesman Aziz Ahmad Khan said the latest Israeli military action including air attacks and tank assault in the West Bank and Gaza had further escalated tension.

The statement said: “Pakistan reiterates the urgent need for restraint and the resumption of peace negotiations, hopes for which were revived by the recent initiative of the US secretary of state.”

The spokesman, who also addressed a news conference, informed the newsmen that the OIC Secretary-General, Abdelouhed Belkeziz, would arrive in Islamabad on Wednesday to hold talks with Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar. He would also call on President Gen Pervez Musharraf.

The latest Israeli military attacks and the Afghan conference are likely to figure in the secretary-general’s talks here.

Responding to a question, the spokesman ruled out any possibility of smuggling of nuclear material, asserting that such a possibility was impossible because Pakistan’s nuclear safety record was “impeccable”.

The foreign office spokesman reiterated Pakistan’s concern and sorrow over the loss of lives in the ongoing military operation in Afghanistan and said that was the reason why Islamabad wanted the military operation to be as short as possible.

He told a questioner that Islamabad was trying to find out the number of Pakistanis killed or injured in the prison tragedy in northern Afghanistan.

UN SECRETARY: The government felicitated UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and his special representative Lakhdar Brahimi on the reported successful conclusion of an agreement among Afghan leaders at the Bonn conference on the establishment of an interim authority in Afghanistan.