ISLAMABAD, Sept 7: American Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Richard Boucher reached Islamabad on Friday morning on an unannounced visit to ostensibly prepare for the second round of the broad-based Pakistan-US Dialogue that begins here next week.

Initially his visit was scheduled for next week but according to diplomatic sources as Mr Boucher was in Europe he decided to come here early instead of going back to Washington and then travel back to Pakistan the next day.

Apparently Mr Boucher’s early arrival came as a surprise to the Foreign Office and some of its senior officials who were contacted by Dawn had no clue about it.

There were unconfirmed reports that during the day Mr Boucher met President Gen Pervez Musharraf at his Camp Office in Rawalpindi. However, there was no official word either from the Foreign Office or the US embassy about the reported meeting.

When Dawn contacted Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said she had no information about a meeting taking place between the president and Mr Boucher and neither had the Foreign Office fixed such a meeting. The US embassy Spokesperson Elizabeth Colton was equally non-committal and left it at: “I have nothing about such a meeting.”

When this correspondent contacted the president’s press Secretary Rashid Qureshi later in the evening, he categorically denied that a meeting between President Musharraf and Mr Boucher took place. Terming the reports about the meeting and its agenda “ridiculous” he asserted no meeting had been scheduled and there was no ‘call-on’ the president by Mr Boucher.

According to informed sources, Mr Boucher had no official engagements on Friday and he spent most of his day at the US embassy in meetings with the American ambassador and other diplomats to prepare for the strategic dialogue. Even on Saturday he has no official meetings scheduled in the capital, it is learnt.

Speculations were rife in the capital the entire day about the reasons for Mr Boucher’s early arrival which coincided with media reports claiming that the government was trying to prevent former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s arrival in Pakistan with the US help.

Although Washington has repeatedly denied reports about the US brokering or facilitating a power-sharing deal between PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto and the government, this perception continues to gain strength.

Mr Boucher will leave for Afghanistan over the weekend to join Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and will later return with him to Islamabad for the Strategic Dialogue.

Deputy Secretary Negroponte will lead the US delegation to the two-day Strategic Dialogue that commences here on Tuesday. Notably, it will coincide with the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US.

The dialogue includes cooperation on counter-terrorism, education, science and technology, and expansion of economic opportunities.

Referring to the upcoming dialogue, the US envoy on Wednesday described it as a forum in which the two countries would look at the full range of bilateral relationship. “The dialogue will be about how we can work together to advance our common interests in security, education, science and technology, energy, economic growth and development, as well as regional and global issues. These are all areas where Pakistan can excel.”