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Pakistani Troops to Help Remove Landmines in Lebanon
ISLAMABAD, Aug 9 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Pakistan agreed to send troops to undertake de-mining operations in southern Lebanon, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said after talks with visiting Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, news agencies reported.
"We have already reached an agreement on de-mining operations to de-mine areas around Beirut and southern Lebanon, and about 300 troops will be sent to Lebanon as soon as possible," Musharraf was quoted as telling the official media, The Times of India reported.
The two countries also decided to expand ties in the fields of trade, commerce, defense training and diplomacy, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan said.
The Lebanese prime minister, who flew into Islamabad on Tuesday, said Pakistan would receive 12 Lebanese military officers for training this year, above from the previous five to eight.
In addition, "We will exchange ministerial visits to try to strengthen economic and commercial relations and find the best way that Pakistan can benefit from Lebanon's position as a commercial hub of the Arab world and Europe," Hariri said.
Musharraf described Hariri's visit as "extremely fruitful".
"We have had total unanimity of views on all issues whether diplomatic, commercial exchanges or defense fields, including defense training," he said, and "We have identified areas to increase collaboration in commercial and trade."
Foreign Affairs Minister Mahmoud Hamoud, National Defence Minister Khalid Hraoui and Economy and Trade Minister Basil Fuleihan assisted Hariri.
On Wednesday, a Lebanese army bomb disposal expert was wounded while trying to disarm an Israeli mine in south Lebanon, police said, reported the French News Agency AFP.
The soldier was proceeding to remove mines from a sector around Qantara, near Marjayoun, in the area formerly occupied by Israeli troops for 22 years before they withdrew in May of 2000, the police said.
The wounded soldier was evacuated to a hospital at Saida, the main city in South Lebanon, he added.
Israeli mines have killed thirteen Lebanese civilians since the pullout, and some 100 others wounded by explosions.
At least 20 Lebanese and Syrian soldiers have also been wounded while trying to remove the mines.
Israel left more than 130,000 mines in the border area of southern Lebanon covering the 850 square kilometers (340 square miles) it occupied, which will now take four years to remove, according to the United Nations.
Speaking Tuesday during a banquet hosted in honor of Hariri, Musharraf likened the situation in Kashmir with that of Palestine, The Times of India reported.
"As in the case of Palestine, the struggle of the Kashmiri people is rooted in the denial of their inherent right to determine their own future, in accordance with the U.N. security council resolutions," he said at a banquet hosted in honor of Hariri.
Musharraf said he visited India "out of my desire to put aside hostility and begin a process to bring peace to South Asia through resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people."
Hariri said both Lebanon and Pakistan were "suffering from regional instability which negatively affects our economic development."
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