April 15, 2003	Tuesday	Safar 12, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, April 14: The foreign office said on Monday that only the president, prime minister, and top officials at the ministry of foreign affairs represented Pakistan’s position on foreign policy issues.

“As far as foreign policy issues are concerned, government’s policy and positions are indicated or spelt out through statements of the president, prime minister, foreign minister, foreign secretary and the foreign office spokesman,” Aziz Ahmed Khan, the FO spokesman, asserted at his weekly briefing. Any other statements on foreign policy issues represented the personal views of an individual, Mr Khan said.

The spokesman made this statement in response to a question suggesting that the Pakistan government did not seem to be speaking with one voice on key foreign policy issues. The question was posed with reference to often conflicting declarations made by Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and ruling PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on foreign policy issues.

In an earlier briefing, the spokesman had categorically stated that the foreign office was the only authority and therefore credible point of reference on foreign affairs.

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