ISLAMABAD, Dec 20: President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Monday assured the visiting Iraqi Foreign Minister, Mr Hoshyar Zebari, of Pakistan's full support for the territorial integrity and national sovereignty of Iraq.
The president held out the assurance during a meeting with Mr Zebari, who is on a three-day official visit of Pakistan at the invitation of Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri.
"Pakistan sincerely desires that the sufferings of brotherly Iraqi people should end. Towards that end, Pakistan completely endorses the Iraqi government and UN efforts to hold fair elections resulting in a representative national government with the participation of all communities," said an official statement issued after the meeting.
"This was the only way to ensure an independent and prosperous Iraq in which all segments of society would live in peace and harmony," it added. Mr Zebari conveyed greetings of the Iraqi president and the prime minister to President Musharraf. He informed the president that elections in Iraq would be held on schedule.
"There was an exchange of views on a broad range of issues and they had a general discussion on the situation in Iraq and how the election would be held there," sources told Dawn.
Officials said the issue of sending Pakistani troops to Iraq did not figure in the discussions. The 40-minute talks at which Mr Kasuri was also present ended with a joint pledge to strengthen ties between the two countries, the sources said.
TALKS WITH KASURI: Mr Zebari then called on Mr Kasuri and held talks with him aimed at enhancing bilateral cooperation. The delegation-level talks that lasted more than an hour covered issues like the security situation in Iraq, forthcoming elections in that country, Pakistan's role in its reconstruction and other aspects of bilateral relations.
The ministers exchanged views on regional and international issues. "The thrust was on the need for greater bilateral interaction at various levels," a senior diplomat said after the talks.
Pakistan asked for the early convening of the Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) meeting. The two sides agreed that the JMC would meet in Islamabad early next year, officials said. There have been eight JMC meetings so far and the last one was held in Islamabad in 2001.
Mr Kasuri assured Mr Zebari of Pakistan's assistance in the reconstruction of Iraq. The Iraqi minister appreciated the offer. Expressing Pakistan's deep concern over the state of security in Iraq, Mr Kasuri hoped that the situation would soon return to normalcy. He said that the people of Pakistan and Iraq had deep-rooted brotherly relations based on religious, historic and cultural affinities.
Mr Zebari briefed his Pakistani counterpart on the latest developments in his country, including the security situation, preparations for the January 2005 elections, the reconstruction process and the UN role.
Mr Kasuri stated that since April 2003, Pakistan had been stressing the need for maintaining the territorial integrity of Iraq and had advocated transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqi people as soon as possible. With this objective in mind, said Mr Kasuri, Pakistan had supported all UN efforts.
"Pakistan supported the steps taken by the UN for holding free and fair elections as per schedule. Pakistan hopes that this would lead to a democratically elected, pluralistic and broad-based government which is inclusive of all political and religious groups," Mr Kasuri said.
Mr Zebari's is the first high-level visit from Baghdad after the invasion of Iraq by the US-led forces in March 2003. However, there has been a telephonic contact between Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and President Musharraf earlier this year. Mr Allawi called President Musharraf on June 5 reportedly to "seek Pakistan's good wishes in his effort to restore order and democratic self-rule in Iraq".
The president, in turn, had extended to Mr Allawi an invitation to visit Pakistan and assured him of all possible help in the rehabilitation of the war-ravaged country.
Pakistan committed $10 million in humanitarian assistance and for reconstruction of Iraq during the Madrid Donors Conference in May 2003. It has already sent two shipments of relief goods worth $3.3 million for the Iraqi people in June and August 2003.
After the overthrow of the Saddam regime in March 2003 Pakistan worked with other members of the UN Security Council for an early adoption of Resolution 1472 under which the oil-for-food programme was resumed on a temporary basis.
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