ISLAMABAD, March 18: The Foreign Office said on Monday that the visit by United States Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Christina Rocca, who arrived here earlier in the day, was taking place “in an unusual situation”.

FO spokesman Aziz Khan told a press briefing that as far as he knew the US official was on a visit to New Delhi while touring Sri Lanka and India, and she had arrived in Islamabad without prior schedule. “It is a sudden development. She cancelled her meetings (in New Delhi) this morning and rushed to Pakistan.”

The spokesman parried most of questions pertaining to Ms Rocca’s dash to Islamabad where five persons, including an American diplomat’s wife and daughter, were killed in a grenade attack on a church on Sunday.

Mr Khan told the media that he cannot say anything about the objective of her Islamabad visit. He said the American embassy had not yet officially approached the foreign office about Ms Rocca’s engagements here.

“I can’t speculate,” said the spokesman when pressed to elaborate on the US official’s possible engagements here or about the attack on the church. He advised the questioners to get in touch with the American embassy to find out the purpose of Ms Rocca’s visit and the interior ministry about details of the church attack.

In reply to a question whether the attack was the demonstration of terrorists’ anger against the government’s anti-terrorism policy, the spokesman said Pakistan was determined in fight against terrorism with the US-led coalition.

He deplored the church attack, saying it was against the spirit of Islam and norms of civilized behaviour. He declared that the government would fight terrorism in all its forms. This particular incident, he added, cannot be taken as the complete picture of law and order situation in the country and asserted that investors were satisfied with the situation.

In reply to questions on the current tour of many Middle East countries by US Vice-President Dick Cheney and reports suggesting that the visit was intended to rally Arab support for a likely military invasion of Iraq, the spokesman termed these reports speculative. He did not answer when asked whether Pakistan, as a member of the international coalition against terrorism, would go along in case Iraq became target of the anti-terrorism campaign.

The spokesman said that the volatile border situation remained unchanged with no reduction in the number of Indian troops. About Islamabad’s support to the Kashmir struggle, he said it was political and diplomatic.

The spokesman asserted that there was no question of FBI being given control of law and order in Pakistan. About the handing over of Shaikh Omar, the main accused in Daniel Pearl kidnapping and murder case, to the United States, the spokesman said it would be decided only after the outcome of the investigation was known.

The presence of Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Bungguo in Pakistan for the inauguration of Gwadar port later this week was a reflection of the close and exemplary relations and economic interaction between the two countries, he said.