Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf may meet Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on the sidelines of this yearâs United Nations General Assembly session,The Jerusalem Post reported.According to the paper, the proposed meeting hinges on the reactions within Pakistan and the Arab world over Pakistanâs desire to send an official team to the Gaza Strip as well as to Fridayâs first publicly-acknowledged meeting between Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Kasuri in Istanbul.
While Israeli officials in the prime ministerâs office hailed the meeting as reaping of the fruits of disengagement even before the completion of the withdrawal from Gaza, the Post quoted an official as saying that strategically, it is very important for us to have contact with the outer circle of Muslim countries.
The fact that Pakistan was willing to do this, even though the heart of Al Qaeda is located there, is important. There is no doubt that U.S. pressure had something to do with it, but we welcome any Muslim country that wishes to have ties with us, he was quoted as saying further. The foreign ministers meeting is expected to be followed by confidence-building measures, such as a relaxation of Pakistanâs ban on travel to Israel, an Israeli official said.
Meanwhile, Pakistanâs Ambassador to the United States and former army chief, General (retired) Jehangir Karamat, has also said that a âchanceâ meeting could take place between Musharraf and Sharon. âAll heads of states and governments will be there and if they meet, there s no harm,â the Dawn quoted Gen.Karamat, as saying. Karamat, however, emphasized that âno planned meetingâ between the two leaders was scheduled, and added that it was not even possible.
In New York, informed sources told the Dawn that Musharraf and Sharon would hold a one-to-one meeting on September 15.