ISLAMABAD, Dec 8: Pakistan has expressed resentment and regret at the Commonwealth’s decision on Saturday to maintain Islamabad’s suspension from the 54-nation grouping.

The foreign ministry spokesman told his weekly news briefing on Monday that the Commonwealth ministerial committee had taken that decision because of the consensus politics of certain members who unfortunately linked up Pakistan’s case with that of Zimbabwe.

Pakistan’s suspension was partial and not total, spokesman Masud Khan said. Though Pakistan had overwhelming support, including that from the UK and Australia, yet the so-called Harare principle perversely prevailed, said the spokesman, complaining that it was not fair to keep us out despite the support by a majority of the member countries.

He said the decision to deny re-entry to Islamabad deprived the Commonwealth of its full vitality since Pakistan was not just another country. Pakistan is a 140 million-strong state, an important actor in the region and its exclusion is really regrettable, he observed.

About the possibility of bilateral talks between Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali on the sidelines of the Saarc summit early next month, he said there had been no formal request from the Indian leader for such meetings although in his statements Mr Vajpayee had indicated he might be meeting them.

The Indian prime minister had, however, confirmed his participation in the Saarc summit, the spokesman said and added that Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes had also indicated Mr Vajpyaee’s meeting with President Musharraf.

In reply to questions, he said the construction of a wall along some parts of the Line of Control by India had been noted by the UN Military Observers Group. The group is assigned to enforce the LoC and report to the UN any violations of the Security Council resolutions pertaining to the LoC.

Asked how Pakistan would react to the construction of the wall, he said Islamabad would send a demarche to New Delhi. However, he pointed out, the president was recently reported to have stated that the wall was being built about 5km from the LoC and was not visible from the Pakistani side.

The spokesman said there had been some movement in lowering tension and improving climate between Pakistan and India since Islamabad offered to resume airlinks and other means of travel between the two countries.

These were small steps taken towards beginning of a process of “engagement” between the two countries, he explained and said it would not be apt to term these measures as “revitalization or normalization as they were still tentative”.

He stressed that in order to have lasting peace in South Asia there should be an end to the killings in occupied Kashmir and victimization of a people adhering to one faith.

The spokesman welcomed the latest press talk by Afghan President Hamid Karzai with some Pakistani journalists in Kabul which mainly sought to remove misunderstandings between the two countries.

He said there was no cooperation between Pakistan and Britain in the field of nuclear non-proliferation. The British government had not yet furnished explanation about bugging of Pakistan missions in London, he added.