December 16, 2002	Monday	Shawwal 11, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Dec 15: Christina Rocca, the US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, arrived here Sunday evening on a three-day visit for consultations with the Jamali government and members of the new parliament.

The visiting US assistant secretary of state will call on Foreign Minister Mian Khurshid Mehmud Kasuri and foreign secretary Riaz Khokhar at the foreign office on Monday morning.

Officials at the ministry of foreign affairs maintained there was no “pre-fixed agenda” conveyed to them. They said Rocca’s meetings with two officials could be considered “courtesy calls.”

“Rocca’s visit is basically aimed at touching base with members of the new government in Islamabad and she is unlikely to carry any special message for Pakistan,” well-placed diplomatic sources told Dawn on Sunday.

During her stay in the capital, Rocca will be calling on Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali and President Gen Pervez Musharraf. A visit to the ministry of interior is also on her agenda.

Rocca is the second high-ranking official of the Bush administration to visit Pakistan after Jamali took over as Prime Minister and the first from the state department. Stephen Hadley, the deputy national security advisor, was the first to visit Islamabad earlier this month.