ISLAMABAD/JEDDAH, July 27: This is the first time that President Gen Pervez Musharraf has embarked on two important foreign visits — to UAE and Saudi Arabia — without the foreign minister or the foreign secretary accompanying him.

Not even one official from the Middle East Desk at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has accompanied the president, it is learnt. The only person from the Ministry travelling with him is the chief of protocol.

This is seen as a clear indication that it is not the customary bilateral visit undertaken by the President and that there is more to it than meets the eye.

Even the record setting two-sentence press release issued by the Foreign Office on Thursday announcing the visit of the President was a give away.

It clearly conveyed that either the Foreign Office knew little about the agenda or there was something to hide. Or simply nothing so ‘official’ about the visit.

All it said was: “President General Pervez Musharraf will be paying a visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and UAE from 27 to 28 July 2007. While in Saudi Arabia, the President will perform Umra and would be meeting with Khadim-ul-Harmain Sharifain His Majesty King Abdullah.”

Conspicuously there was no mention in it at all about his engagements in the UAE.

When Dawn asked the Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam about it on Friday, her brief response was that the President would be meeting “leaders” in both the countries. Interestingly, the Foreign Office in its press release did not even characterize the visit as ‘official’ or ‘state’ as it usually does.

The only high-profile personality accompanying the President is the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Chief which gives credence to reports that it may be a sojourn aimed at national reconciliation.

The standard diplomatic practice is that whenever the President sets out on an official visit abroad he is accompanied either by the foreign minister or foreign secretary and diplomats from the relevant desk at the Foreign Office.

On rare occasions both the foreign secretary and the foreign minister travel with him as they did during his visits to Muslim countries as part of his Middle East peace initiative earlier this year.

President Musharraf’s uncertain arrival schedule in Jeddah not only kept Pakistani diplomats on the hook the entire day on Friday, but it also caused a complete confusion as the schedule kept changing throughout the day. Senior commentators in Jeddah said that the delay in President Musharraf's arrival in Jeddah indicated the lengthening of his stay and the ‘meeting with PPP Chairperson’ in Abu Dhabi.

Earlier, when President Musharraf and his entourage left the Chaklala Airport on Friday, it was anticipated here that he was coming straight to Jeddah and news agencies and satellite news channels also kept on reporting the same.

However, President Musharraf’s plane first landed in Abu Dhabi, sowing utter confusion here about the arrival schedule.

In Jeddah, President Musharraf and King Abdullah were expected to discuss bilateral relations and regional issues.