ISLAMABAD, July 4: Foreign Minister Kasuri brushed aside media reports that Pakistan’s ties with the United States were undergoing a ‘cold spell’. Talking to PTV prior to his departure for Paris, the foreign minister also called for the return of the Israeli soldier captured by Palestinian militants, but termed Israel’s violent incursion into Gaza ‘counterproductive’.

Referring to Pakistan’s contribution to the war against terrorism, he said the Bush administration had full knowledge of Pakistan’s counter-terrorism efforts on the border with Afghanistan.

He said: “So, if they say they are happy, should we believe them or should we believe a spin story in some newspaper?”

Mr Kasuri said: “In modern media, there are various lobbies with an axe to grind. There is no cold spell.”

The Foreign Minister also dismissed the impression that Washington’s increasingly curt statements on President Pervez Musharraf’s commitment to democracy in Pakistan were a pressure tactic linked to Islamabad’s cooperation in fighting the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.

He said Secretary Rice did not ‘volunteer’ her statement in a press conference on April 28 in Islamabad about the need to hold “free and fair” elections next year.

“The question is: Did she do it voluntarily? No, she did not volunteer her statement” but only said it in answer to a question from a reporter, said Mr Kasuri.

In any case, pressure tactics will not work with Pakistan, he stressed.

Mr Kasuri said, “I don’t know if there is a pressure tactic going on. As a foreign minister of Pakistan, all I can say is that we have never succumbed to pressure. I don’t think there is any pressure on us. And if anybody tries that, they will find out, as our record proves, that we have a very independent foreign policy.”

The foreign minister said he would not hesitate to press French and American officials on Pakistan’s case for civilian nuclear technology.

“We are a declared nuclear power. Wherever I go, whether United States or Europe, I will press our case,” he said, adding that “no harm” would come to the international counter-proliferation efforts, if Pakistan got civilian nuclear technology since Pakistan is not a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Mr Kasuri said, “We are even prepared that they come and invest and take their unspent fuel back. Just give us the energy. There is no case for not giving this [nuclear technology] to Pakistan.”

KASURI IN PARIS: Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri arrived here on Tuesday on his first official visit to France, where he was scheduled to hold talks with his French counterpart, Philippe Douste-Blazy.