Pakistan-Lanka ties partnership for peace and prosperity - Pakistan

PAKISTAN: Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz yesterday stressed that ties between Pakistan and Sri Lanka have developed to a partnership for peace, progress and prosperity, when Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama called on him.

The Foreign Minister extended to President Pervez Musharraf and the Government of Pakistan, the warmest greetings and best wishes of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Sri Lankan Government.

He expressed the deep appreciation of the Sri Lankan Government for Pakistan's support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the island and the Government's peace initiative.

He accepted the invitation extended by the Minister on behalf of President Rajapaksa to visit Sri Lanka at a mutually convenient time. Bogollagama also had a round table discussion with a cross section of eminent personalities from the civil society in Islamabad.

They included former Foreign Secretaries Niaz Naik and Riaz Khokhar, M. Bilal Senior Advocate and President Pakistan-Sri Lanka Friendship Association, Irshad Ullah Khan, an Oxford Scholar, Ambassador Aslam Rizvi, Zafar Abbas, Resident Editor of the Dawn newspaper and Dr. A.B. Maharoof of the Islamic International University.

He briefed them on developments in the peace initiative in Sri Lanka and the dual track of the Government to contain terrorism on the one hand while making every effort to resume talks with the LTTE to enable a negotiated settlement to the conflict, on the other.

He expressed the desire to expand the bilateral relationship with Pakistan to include all segments of society and urged the dignitaries present to maintain close links with Sri Lanka.