NEW YORK, Nov 12: Pakistani and US officials struggled to prevent the last day of President Pervez Musharraf’s stay in New York from being totally disrupted by Monday’s crash of a passenger airliner five miles from the city’s main international airport and only hours before the president’s scheduled departure for home.

The general’s visit to ground zero in the morning was cancelled, and his lecture at the Council for Foreign Affairs was turned into a telephone event.

He was still scheduled at the time of the filing of this report to leave as planned by a PIA flight.

The president and all other leaders here for the United Nations General Assembly session were advised by the US authorities to stay at their hotels or places of residence. The UN building was closed. Media appointments with Gen Musharraf went ahead.

Our Staff reporter from Karachi adds: President Pervez Musharraf is scheduled to leave New York at 4am PST on Tuesday.