September 25, 2002	Wednesday	Rajab 17, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 24: US and Pakistani defence officials gathered here on Tuesday to discuss boosting cooperation between the two countries and restoring formal ties suspended since Pakistan’s 1998 nuclear tests.

The Defence Consultative Group is meeting this week for the first time since 1997, with formal proceedings due to get under way on Thursday with the arrival of US Undersecretary of Defence Douglas Feith.

Three working groups began preliminary meetings on Tuesday. The decision to restore the defence group is seen as a reward for Pakistan’s cooperation with the US-led war on terror and military action in Afghanistan, and was taken when President Pervez Musharraf visited Washington in February.

Pakistan’s state-run PTV television said the two sides were expected to take “far-reaching decisions for extending cooperation in the defence and military field”.

Defence analysts say the talks will focus on several areas of defence cooperation including the release of arms and equipment withheld by Washington in 1990 as a punishment for Islamabad’s nuclear programme.

Officials are also likely to discuss cooperation in patrolling Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, where US forces are tracking down fugitive Al Qaeda and Taliban militants. Pakistan will also be asking for new weapons, a senior government official told Reuters in Islamabad.

“Pakistan’s request for purchase of new weapons will also be discussed at the Defence Consultative Group meeting,” the official said. “Whether such a request will materialize or not will be known only after the meeting”.—Reuters