"Neither we have invited him, nor do the event the minister is coming to attend in our country is taking place," Khan

By Asif Farooqi, IOL Correspondent

ISLAMABAD, January 20 (IslamOnline.net) – Pakistan denied Tuesday, January 20, that it has invited Israeli Minister of Agricultural Yisrael Katz to visit the Muslim country in March.

"Neither we have invited him, nor do the event the Minister is coming to attend in our country is taking place," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Masood Khan said, referring to a conference on food and agriculture under the auspices of the United Nations.

Katz told Israeli military radio that he was invited by the government of Pakistan to take part in the world conference.

"I have been officially invited to go to Pakistan during the month of March and I have accepted," Katz was quoted as saying. He claimed the alleged visit reflected signs of rapprochement between the two countries.

Masood said the conference Katz was talking about has already been canceled, adding that the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) did not confirm the meeting.

Pakistan neither has diplomatic relations with Israel nor recognizes it.

However, following Pakistan’s outright support to the U.S. "global war on terror", President Gen. Pervez Musharraf last year put the relations with Israel on public debate.

Musharraf narrowly escaped a suicide assassination attempt on December 25 near his house the second attempt on his life in ten days.

On December 14, a shuddering blast ripped apart a bridge from where the Presidential convoy had passed a few moments earlier. Musharraf was declared then well and safe.

Opposition

Major players in the country's political landscape are opposed to the establishment of diplomatic relations with Israel.

"Why do we need to have relations with Israel. What's in it for us?" Wondered Mushahidullah Khan, a senior Pakistan Muslim League member.

"Musharraf government was following the dictations from U.S. and having friendly relations with Israel is part of the U.S. policy," he said.

Leaders of Mutahidda Majlis e Amal, the religious alliance who recently voted in favor of Musharraf, said it strongly opposes the agenda of the Foreign Ministry.

"We do not accept the foreign policies of the government and would never support such actions," said the alliance's vice chairman, Maulan Fazlur Rehmand.

He said "anti-Muslim policies" of the U.S. government would never be allowed to be replicated in Pakistan.

Even the ruling party PML is not on board with the President’s initiative to have relations with Israel. However, party leaders would not comment on the issue.