PARIS, Aug 5: French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, just back in Paris following a two-day whirlwind visit to Pakistan and India, says he prefers to remain “prudent” with regard to any assessment of the trip, his first as foreign minister to Asia.

Part of the reason for the silence is a sense of melancholy that seems to have always accompanied Mr de Villepin in his travels, specially when they concern a part of the world for which he has always had a special fondness.

But one does sense a feeling of disappointment over the trip. Prior to the visit, there was a sense of exhilaration not only with regard to rebuilding its relations with India and Pakistan, two countries with which France has had long historical links, but also with regard to settlement of their dispute over Kashmir.

Mr de Villepin, did not make use of the word “destiny” in evoking France’s relations with Pakistan, just as he’d done in referring to relations with India, and France’s conviction that there was an “Indian destiny” in world affairs, undoubtedly the reason why he promised his Indian hosts to support India’s candidacy for a Security Council seat in the United Nations later this year.

And as for the future of the relationship with Pakistan, nothing was said about a possible visit by French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin to Islamabad, although Mr de Villepin did promise an important visit to India next year by the French prime minister.

All seems to depend, said a member of Mr de Villepin’s entourage, on Pakistan’s response to two important issues evoked by France during the recent trip to Islamabad: firstly, whether Gen Musharraf will go ahead and hold free and democratic elections next October, a demand France has repeatedly made these past several months, notably in its reaction of disappointment to results of last April’s referendum, and secondly whether Gen Musharraf holds to the promise made to Mr de Villepin according to which he will put a stop to cross-border infiltration in Kashmir.