Karachi, Dec 17: The leader of the visiting Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (UK Branch) delegation, Tom Cox MP, said he was “proud to say that in the British Parliament there is respect and support for President Pervez Musharraf, for what he is doing for the people of Pakistan”.

“In our meeting with President Musharraf in Islamabad, he was very frank. The President is held in very high regard by our delegation,” Mr Cox remarked while speaking at a dinner in Karachi hosted by Abdul Kader Jaffer, Pakistan’s former high commissioner to the UK.

The dinner was attended by Speaker Sindh Assembly Syed Muzaffar Hussain, Education Minister Irfanullah Marwat, PPP MNA Ms Sherry Rahman, members of the delegation and diplomats.

“We, as members of British House of Commons and Lords, have a duty to work for the return of Pakistan as soon as possible into the Commonwealth. We will also take up resolution of Pakistan’s difficulties with the European Union”, assured Mr Cox, who is also Chairman of the Pakistan Parliamentary Group in the House of Commons.

He said the delegation had interesting discussions with the speaker of the National Assembly and the chairman of the Senate in Islamabad, and the speakers of the Punjab and Sindh assemblies in Lahore and Karachi.—PPI