ISLAMABAD Dec 26: PML’s Secretary-General Mushahid Hussain on Tuesday said Pakistan Muslim League’s president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, who is in Dubai, had met leader of the People’s Party Parliamentarians Benazir Bhutto at a function, adding that the meeting was not a scheduled one.

He said that talks between various political parties were part of the democratic process, adding that negotiations were an essential part of politics. He said the PML government was holding talks with leaders of all political parties before the appointment of the chief election commissioner.

He said that all political parties, including the PML and PPP, believed that elections should be held according to schedule in 2007.

Meanwhile, the PML leader criticised the international community for what he termed its double standards on issues like the UN sanctions on Iran. Referring to the statement of Egypt’s prime minister, Mr Hussain said, the world should also have taken up the issue of Israel’s nuclear capability when its premier had said that it had nuclear capability.

Referring to relations between Pakistan and Iran after the imposition of the UN sanctions, the PML leader said that Pakistan’s relations with Iran would not be affected by UN sanctions.

He said a delegation of Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee would visit Iran and Uzbekistan from Jan 5 to promote Pakistan’s relations with these countries.Mr Hussain said President Gen Pervez Musharraf had also made clear that talks on the vital gas pipeline project between Pakistan and Iran would continue.

He hoped that Iran would cooperate with the international community on the nuclear issue.