Musharraf in Bangladesh for the first time

Khaleej Times, 7/21/02

DHAKA - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is to meet his old army buddies during his first-ever visit to Bangladesh, the former east Pakistan, later this month, a report said on Saturday.

The tabloid Manavzamin said five of Musharraf's army friends have already been organising a reunion to coincide with his three-day official visit, which starts on July 29. Bangladesh was a part of Pakistan until it gained independence in 1971. Musharraf will be the first South Asian leader to visit the country since Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's government came to office nine months ago. During his visit, the Pakistani leader will hold talks with his Bangladeshi counterpart Jamiruddin Sircar and Prime Minister Zia.

Talks are expected to cover a gamut of bilateral, regional and international issues. "Trade will be an important part of the agenda," a Bangladesh foreign ministry official said. The daily said Musharraf had wanted to visit the homes of his friends with his wife, but due to security concerns he would now meet them at the Sonargaon Hotel, where he will be staying during his trip.

All five of the president's friends are retired army officers who had studied with him when he attended the Pakistan Military Academy in Abbottabad, in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, from 1961 to 1964. One, retired major general Monjur Rashid Khan, described Musharraf as a "very good and meritorious cadet". - AFP

Straw in talks with Pakistan FM

Khaleej Times, 7/21/02

ISLAMABAD - British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw held talks on Saturday with Pakistan's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Inamul Haq, pursuing his latest drive to end a seven-month deadlock between India and Pakistan over disputed Kashmir. Straw arrived in Islamabad earlier on Saturday from New Delhi, where he spent the previous day in talks with his Indian counterpart Yashwant Sinha, on his third peace mission to South Asia this year.

He landed at the Chaklala airforce base outside the Pakistani capital at 10:00 am (0400 GMT) and headed straight to the Foreign Office. Talks with Haq lasted over an hour. He made no comment to reporters. British High Commission spokesman Colin Hicks said a meeting with President Pervez Musharraf was still not confirmed.

Straw is due to fly back to New Delhi later on Saturday for further talks with Sinha before departing for London. Straw said on Friday that while tensions had eased, both sides needed to take more steps for further de-escalation. Straw made clear that he would be telling Islamabad to permanently end the flow of Pakistan-based rebels across the de-facto border into Indian territory. Only then can Islamabad's repeated demand for dialogue with New Delhi over the divided Himalayan region be met, he said.

"We are glad to know that progress has been made to reduce the level of tensions, but obviously further steps need to be taken before we have a dialogue," Straw told a press conference in the Indian capital. "What is obvious is that one of the keys to a peaceful solution (to Kashmir) is an end to infiltration."

Pakistan insists the infiltration has ended, saying repeatedly "nothing is going on at the Line of Control", dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan. Topping Islamabad's agenda in talks with Straw is its demand for dialogue with New Delhi over the Himalayan territory.

Officials here say it is time to call in promises made by international mediators in earlier rounds of diplomatic shuttling in late May and early June, when it was feared the nuclear rivals were on the brink of war. "We were given assurances by the international community, especially the US and Britain, that they will ask India to start a dialogue," a government official told AFP on Friday.

"We've stopped incursions, movement across the Line of Control in Kashmir. The international mediators said "you do it and we will do it' meaning get India to come to the table," the official said. "It is now up to them to deliver on their promise." - AFP