KARACHI, July 22: The British High Commissioner Mr Mark Lyall Grant said on Thursday that the traditional concept of sovereignty and domestic jurisdiction was rapidly changing.

He advocated the right to intervene in a third country's affairs on humanitarian issues.

Mr Grant articulated this theme while talking to newsmen informally during his visit to the Karachi Press Club. He was accompanied by the Deputy High Commissioner in Karachi, Hamish St. Clair Daniel, and Senior Trade and Investment Officer at the Deputy High Commission, Hammad Siddiqui.

Mr Grant spoke on various international issues, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel and African countries.

When his attention was drawn to the rising criticism of the unilateral intervention and the principle of pre-emptive air strikes, the diplomat said the international policy was changing and internal matters were no longer internal as was the case in Rwanda.

His contention appeared contrary to the protection given to 'national sovereignty' under Article 2 para 7 of the UN Charter which pertains to the matters relating to 'domestic jurisdiction' of a member state.

Mr Grant pointed out that a debate was continuing whether or not the countries, possessing capability, should be allowed to intervene in a country where there was a humanitarian problem.

He observed that Western governments had been criticized when they did not intervene in Rwanda and other African countries. Since then, he said, international policy had changed in favour of intervention at places where such a situation prevailed.

Asked whether London knew of the Muslim sentiments in the wake of Iraq war, the British High Commissioner replied in affirmative, and said that besides this, London was also aware of the sentiments over Israel-Palestine issues. This was reflected in the voting pattern in the UN Security Council.

The British High Commissioner insisted that "Saddam's ouster is a good thing because he had allegedly used weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) against his own people... the world is now a safe place." The fighting in Iraq should not be treated as 'a religious war', he said.

Mr Grant claimed the US and UK had intervened in Kosovo and Bosnia on behalf of Muslims living there.

In the context of the situation in Middle East and non-compliance by Israel of the relevant UN resolutions, he expressed his regrets over the non-implementation of the resolutions and said at the UN Security Council, the UK had opposed many US policies on Israel. "We want implementation of the ME roadmap," he declared.

Speaking about Pakistan, he expressed the view that Gen Musharraf's validation by parliament was okay. The general direction of the country was also all right, he added.

"The press is more free now than it was at the time of his earlier posting in Pakistan during the 1980s. However, poverty and other social indicators have shown an undesired trend. For example, the population is much bigger now. In the 1980s, it was around 90 million, but is now touching the mark of 150 million."

Referring to an improvement in the bilateral relations, Mr Grant said his country lobbied for Pakistan at the Commonwealth, OECD and the EU credit ratings and membership. He pointed out that an improvement in bilateral relationship was also indicated from the increase in the British aid to Pakistan from seven million to 15 million pound.

He further pointed out that a record 200,000 visas were planned to be issued this year as compared to 110,000 issued last year.

The number of the student visas has also increased tremendously as most of the students now prefer to study in institutes in the UK instead of those in the US. The student visa figures has reached 10,000, highest of the number in the last two years.

The British High Commissioner evinced keen interest in the KPC and its independent stance on national and international issues.

On his arrival at the KPC, President of the club Nizamuddin Siddiqui and Acting Secretary Shujauddin Qureshi received the British diplomats.

DINNER: Earlier, speaking at the dinner hosted by Pakistan's former high commissioner to Britain Abdul Kader Jaffer here on Wednesday night, Mr Grant said that Britain and Pakistan maintained close political, diplomatic and economic ties, adds PPI.