ISLAMABAD, May 9: Pakistan on Monday forwarded to the World Bank its recommendations for the panel of experts to be appointed to help resolve the Indo-Pakistan differences on the designs and impact of the Baglihar dam. Foreign office spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani told his weekly press briefing that upon examination of the panel proposed by the World Bank the Pakistani authorities had found that some of the experts were known at the international level for their professional competence and impartiality. Islamabad had submitted to the World Bank its recommendations accordingly on Monday, he added.

In reply to a question about the offer to send parts of nuclear centrifuges to the International Atomic Energy Agency, he said Pakistan had conditionally agreed to the IAEA’s request as it wanted to get the issue settled once and for all.

Asked for comments on Indian press reports that 400 armed militants were waiting on the Pakistani side of the Line of Control for snow to melt so that they could infiltrate into occupied Kashmir, the spokesman dismissed such ‘seasonal allegations’ as a familiar disinformation game and propaganda ploy to cover up increasing oppression by the Indian forces on Kashmiris.

Mr Jilani recalled the advice President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had recently given to the APHC leadership to forge unity among its ranks.

He said it was imperative at this juncture to involve the Kashmiris from a ‘single united platform’ in the ongoing Indo-Pakistan dialogue to enlist their support for the settlement of the Kashmir dispute.

He said there had been no change in Pakistan’s stand on the proposed UN reforms and its opposition to the expansion of the permanent category of the Security Council. He said Pakistan did not favour creation of new centres of privileges.

Answering a question about APHC chairman Syed Ali Shah Gilani’s accusation that Pakistan had given up its stand on plebiscite under the US pressure, Mr Jilani said it had been amply demonstrated and reiterated many times that Pakistan had not abandoned its principled position on Kashmir nor had it accepted any change in it.