Zardari in New York for global dialogue on religion, culture

[Imran Khan]

Zardari in New York for global dialogue on religion, culture

By Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: President Asif Ali Zardari will join scores of world leaders at the United Nations this week as part of a global dialogue about religion, culture and common values.
Zardari arrives in New York on Tuesday accompanied by a five-member delegation, including Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
More than 54 heads of state and government, foreign ministers and senior officials have so far confirmed that they would attend the two-day ‘High-Level Meeting on Culture of Peace’.
Opening Wednesday, the meeting would be addressed by President George Bush on Thursday. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, at whose initiative this gathering of world leaders is taking place, will lead his country’s delegation.
Also attending the event will be Israeli President Shimon Peres, who will be accompanied by his Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. India will be represented by its minister of state for external affairs.
The New York meeting is an offshoot of an inter-faith conference organised by King Abdullah and King Juan Carlos of Spain in July this year, which was attended by representatives of Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist and other religions.
UN General Assembly president Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann will open the meeting and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will present a welcome address. It is not yet clear if a declaration will be issued at the end of the two-day event.


when he stay in pakistan for fix our prob is this time for these kind of joke tours

 

[Imran Khan]

Zardari-Obama meeting not on the cards: FO
Bureau Report

Tuesday, 11 Nov, 2008 | 10:00 PM PST |

President Asif Ali Zardari. — AP

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari will not meet with American President elect Barack Obama during his two day visit to the United States to participate in the high-level session of UN General Assembly on ‘Culture of Peace’, being held on November 12-13.
“Neither we have sent any request to the US government for the meeting nor we are expecting it between the two leaders,” Foreign Office spokesman Muhammad Sadiq told Dawn on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, President Zardari left for New York on Tuesday and will return to the country on Friday.
The US President-elect Barak Obama had called President Zardari two days after winning US presidential elections.
The UN session is being held at the initiative of the Custodian of two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, who has been at the forefront of efforts for promoting global peace and harmony.
In sideline meetings, President Zardari is likely to have bilateral talks with many head of the states attending the session.
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has already reached New York and will accompany President Zardari in the UN session.
According to a statement issued by the Foreign Office, Pakistan supports the efforts to promote global peace and harmony among peoples of diverse faith and culture.
“Pakistan fully supports the initiative of Saudi King Abdullah for interfaith and inter-cultural dialogue to promote peace understanding, and tolerance among human beings, as well as respect for all their diverse religious, cultural and linguistic identities,” the statement said.
Other than President Asif Zardari, the world leaders who are expected to attend the interfaith dialogue are King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, US President George W. Bush, Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, President Gloria Arroyo of the Philippines, King Juan Carlos of Spain, King Abdullah of Jordan and Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa.
Leaders of 192 member countries had been sent letters of invitation by President of UN General Assembly Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann.
The General Assembly is holding the meeting under agenda item 48 ‘Culture of Peace’, on the request of Saudi King, who drew the attention of General Assembly of the process that was initiated at the World Conference on Dialogue held in Madrid on July 16-18, 2008.
This November’s dialogue will also serve as a useful preparatory step towards a high-level dialogue with civil society in 2010 on inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue, understanding and culture of peace.

 

[pkpatriotic]

Pakistan's president Asif Ali Zardari, who has reached to the US to attend an inter-faith conference being held under the aegis of the UN, is stated to be hoping for a possible meeting with President-elect Barack Obama. Certainly, Pakistan would be eager to lay down its position before Obama and try to establish a relationship with the man whose policy on terrorism is an issue of considerable speculation across the Muslim world. The Pakistani President and his team would naturally also wish to fill in the future resident of the White House regarding their views and ideas, before any firm decisions are made. The process of reviewing policy has indeed already begun, with General David Petraeus, who took over the US central military command recently, already setting up a broad-ranging panel of advisers who include two from Pakistan.

President Zardari has also, in an interview, made it clear that he believes the continued US missile attacks inside his country are hampering the fight against terror. He has expressed optimism this policy will change under President Obama. This may, at present, be little more than wishful thinking. Clearly, at a meeting, President Zardari hopes to persuade the US leader. But over the coming days, what Pakistan's team of diplomats and rulers needs to do is to place its own strategy against terror before the new US setup. Now, quite evidently, is the time when they are reviewing ongoing policy and may be willing to consider changes. But to persuade them to go along with Islamabad's thinking on this, the president and his men will need to go well beyond rhetoric. Merely pledging to defeat terrorists is not enough, no matter how often and how fervently that promise is made. After all, Pakistan's citizens and the whole world heard similar expressions of resolve from former president Musharraf. At the end of his tenure we found only that the problem had grown bigger and immensely more difficult to tackle. The US leadership, as such, is unlikely to be swayed by yet more words. What is needed is a definite plan of action backed by a clear-cut demonstration of a commitment to go through with it. Only when this is drafted and preferably also put before the Pakistani people, suggesting a meaningful alternative to the strategy of US bombings now being used amidst signs that Washington is becoming more and more desperate as time goes by, can we hope for any real change in tactics and a sympathetic hearing for Islamabad as it calls for an end to the US-led attacks. (Excerpted by the news editorial)

 

[pkpatriotic]

Babar plays down Zardari’s absence from UNSG dinner
Saturday, November 15, 2008
By Qudssia Akhlaque

ISLAMABAD: As speculations continue about what made President Asif Ali Zardari skip a highly important official dinner hosted by the UN Secretary General for world leaders attending the interfaith conference in New York, there is no clear answer from any section of the government.

President Zardari reached New York on Tuesday morning to attend the two-day high-level session of the UN General Assembly on ‘Culture of Peace’ held on November 12-13 at the initiative of Saudi King.

Apparently most of the 17 world leaders, Arabs and the Muslims, participating the conference showed up at the dinner. Notable among them were Saudi King Abdullah and Israeli President Shimon Peres. The rare presence of both the leaders on the occasion made the host Ban Ki-Moon remark: “It’s quite unique when you expect President Shimon Peres of Israel and many Kings and leaders from the Arab world sitting together and having dinner.”

However, rather peculiarly on this “unique” occasion described as merely a “social get-together” by the president’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar, President Zardari opted to send his foreign minister instead of going himself. On Friday when this correspondent asked Mr Babar for the reason behind such a decision he said he would have to check and get back. Later in the evening Mr Babar called back to say that he had talked to the foreign minister in New York and was told by him that there was “no special reason” for the president not attending the dinner.

“President nominated the foreign minister for the dinner which was basically a social get-together,” was the simple explanation given by Mr Babar as he tried to play down president’s conspicuous absence from the high profile diplomatic gathering.

When asked if the president had some other pressing engagement at that time, official or private,” he just laughed and said: “I really don’t have any idea about that.” When the Foreign Office Spokesman Mohammad Sadiq was asked at weekly news briefing on Thursday if there was anything particular why President Zardari did not attend the UN Secretary General’s dinner, his ready response was: “There was no particular reason. In international conferences you do not attend every event. There are many events around a meeting. Some are attended at summit level, others at ministerial or official level.” He had also underlined that the foreign minister represented Pakistan at the dinner.

A serving Pakistani diplomat here thought it was exhaustion of the long journey to New York that kept Mr Zardari away from the dinner. Reportedly another explanation given by Pakistani diplomats in New York was that President Zardari was “under the weather” and resting in his hotel suite. Yet another spin given to his conspicuous absence by unnamed sources in a report filed from New York was that he skipped the dinner to avoid any contact with the Israeli president.

The dinner characterized as a “social get-together” by the president’s spokesman was in fact an important occasion from political and diplomatic standpoint. It offered an opportunity to interact and engage with key world leaders to advance better understanding on issues of concern and interest to Pakistan.

This is not the first time that President Zardari’s absence from an important occasion has raised many questions. Even on his first official visit to New York in September his sudden disappearance from an Iftar reception hosted in his honour by Pakistan’s ambassador had left many perplexed. Reportedly the official version given to the guests was that the president had left abruptly because he had been overwhelmed by the emotional welcome he had received by the audience and was almost choking.