March 22, 2002	Friday	Muharram 7, 1423

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

PESHAWAR, March 21: Afghan Deputy Consul-General Hafizullah Mujadidi on Thursday hoisted his country’s flag at the consulate building, heralding the reopening of the consulate.

The consulate had been closed after the fall of the Taliban regime. The ceremony was attended, among others, by American Consul-General David Kitz and Iranian Consul-General Abbasali Abdullahi. The government was represented by deputy chief of protocol, Prince Ziauddin.

The Afghan interim government has appointed Haji Abdul Khaliq as the consul-general here.

He said policies about visas and repatriation of refugees would be chalked out shortly.

The US consul-general described the opening of the consulate as a good omen in the relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan. It would cast a positive impact in the region, he said.

He said an American diplomat had entered the Afghan consulate in Peshawar for the first time and added that it spoke of the change in the political scenario in Afghanistan.—APP