Pakistan Views

Pakistani authorities on Monday neither denied nor confirmed ‘formal’ negotiations between President Pervez Musharraf and Israel Defence Minister Ehud Barak in France last week but said the duo met only ‘by chance’.

An international wire service reported two leaders met on January 23 for an hour after an informal encounter a day earlier at a Paris hotel where both were staying. The report quoting an unnamed Israeli defence ministry official revealed it was Musharraf who actually desired the meeting and talks primarily focused on Iranian nuclear ambitions.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Mohammed Sadiq told Business Recorder that Musharraf had a ‘chance’ meeting with Barak in Paris, confirming the first informal meeting. “The President was leaving and the defence minister of Israel entered the hotel lobby and it was a chance meeting,” Sadiq said.

The spokesperson added he did not know anything whether the pair also met a day later, leaving doubtful if there were formal talks. “I am not aware of any second meeting,” Sadiq said, “I can neither confirm nor deny it.”

An attempt to approach Musharraf’s personal spokesperson failed because he was not attending his cell phone. Major General Rashid Qureshi (Retd) is in London with Musharraf on the last leg of his Europe visit. He accompanied the President in Paris also.

Pakistan says it will not recognise Israel until a parallel Palestinian state is established. Sadiq did not comment on what would be its status if there was any such meeting at all given the fact both the world’s second largest Islamic republic and the only Jewish state did not have diplomatic relations.

Islamabad last week condemned Israeli raids and recent blockade of Gaza but said an initiative by Musharraf to secure peace in the Middle East was still ‘on the table’.

The meeting, if it actually held, comes on the heels of several developments in Pakistan under Musharraf in the recent years suggesting a slight softness in the official policy towards Israel. Public opinion strictly against the recognition of ‘evil’ Jewish state remained unchanged though.

Last year, Pakistan attended a United States-backed meeting of several countries to look for an ‘out of box’ solution of the Middle East dispute - a diplomatic overture could have been impossible even as recently as a decade ago.

Also in 2007, Islamabad voted for a Tel Aviv-forwarded non political resolution in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), once again one of unimaginable things of the past.

Born out of the settlement of European Jews in the Middle East back in 1948, Israel is still not acceptable to the most of Islamic world. Only a few Muslim countries including Jordan, Egypt, Turkey and Tunis have so far recognised the Zionist state.

Israeli recognition by so-called moderate Muslim states is seen as a must for the US blessings. Given the scepticism about his ability to fight terror by an assertive international community and Musharraf’s growing political opposition in Pakistan, “the meeting should not be a surprise” as an expert put it.