President Asif Ali Zardari, who is reaching UK on today (Sunday), will hold important talks with the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on bilateral ties but more crucially on the emerging situation on the troubled Pak-Afghan border.
Though on private visit, he will utilise the opportunity as the newly elected civilian President to interact with the British leadership on various issues notably on the ways of dealing with the militancy and extremism. His meeting with Gordon Brown on Tuesday comes against the backdrop of UK support to the US plans to commission a new and more comprehensive military strategy covering both sides of Pak-Afghan border.
The British Prime Minister at his monthly press conference earlier this week had spoken about new strategy to meet the growing Taliban threat. US President's statement followed an unprecedented US helicopter-borne commando assault on a village inside Pakistan earlier this month resulting in deaths of some 20 persons including women and children. Pakistan's leaders have pledged to defend their national territory if US launches further cross-border attacks.
Officials at the Pakistan High Commission said President Zardari would urge the British leadership to use its influence and ask US to stop further such attacks. A British member of Parliament Lord Nazir Ahmed has in a letter to Brown questioned his Government's support to US on the cross border attacks and said the American policy was against the international law and is fanning extremism and religious fanaticism and destabilising the region.
UK-based MQM leader Altaf Hussein will also meet President Asif Zardari and personally congratulate him on his election as the new Head of the State. The MQM leader has also supported the statement of Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, about the defence of the country and said the issue of war against terrorism be resolved through dialogue instead of unilateral action.
Comments
Comments are closed.