ISLAMABAD, Sept 2: Pakistan on Friday reiterated that Palestinian Authority’s President Mahmoud Abbas had told President Gen Pervez Musharraf that Islamabad’s formal contact with Tel Aviv would help the Palestinian cause, when the latter informed him on Tuesday about Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri’s planned meeting with his Israeli counterpart in Istanbul.

Office spokesman Naeem Khan told Dawn that the Palestinian president had in clear terms supported the move.

When his attention was drawn to the reservations expressed by Palestinian Authority’s deputy prime minister Nabil Shaath following the Istanbul meeting, the spokesman said: “The fact is that our president had spoken to the Palestinian Authority’s president before the Istanbul meeting and he had clearly supported the move, saying it would be helpful, and we would rather go by that conversation.”

The spokesman then referred to President Abbas’s visit to Pakistan in May during which he sought President Musharraf’s role in carrying the Middle East peace process forward and requested him to send a delegation to Gaza and Al Quds.

Mr Khan, however, hinted that a clear picture would emerge by Saturday.

Notably, President Abbas has not yet given any public statement on the Kasuri-Shalom meeting.

It is learnt that Islamabad has sought a clarification on the matter from the Palestinian Authority through diplomatic channels.—Q.A.