Zardari to dine with Cameron, says no to stay at Chequers
President Asif Ali Zardari has spurned an offer to spend the night at British Prime Minister's country retreat at Chequers, but is to go ahead with his meeting with David Cameron to confront his charges of Pakistan promoting "export of terror" head-on.
Though the 'Daily Mail' described the turning down of invitation as "Zardari's snub to Cameron", Downing Street denied that Pakistan President had snubbed the Prime Minister by refusing to spend the night at the picturesque Chequers. The decision not to stay at the Chequers was said to be due to a "diary clash", sources at Downing Street said.
Zardari's first "face-to-face" meeting with Cameron over dinner would come after the recently-elected British leader suggested elements in Pakistan backed "the export of terror" to its neighbours Afghanistan and India. The Pakistan President in comments made in Paris before flying to London had vowed to confront the charges head-on during his visit here.
"I will explain face to face that it is my country that is paying the highest price in human life for this war," he told the French Daily 'Le Monde'. The meeting at the informal dinner would come amid continuing diplomatic tensions between the two countries, with officials hoping that the strains would be eased.
Zardari will travel again to Chequers tomorrow for formal talks between the two. Besides the diplomatic row, the Pakistan President visit here has been clouded by a clamour back home that he cut short what Pakistani opposition parties are calling a "joy ride".
A number of Pakistani-origin lawmakers in UK have refused to meet Zardari, saying that he should have cancelled his visit as his country was reeling under worst-ever floods. Zardari met Conservative party chairperson Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, and is scheduled to meet Home secretary Theresa May today.
Political observers say that Zardari speaking to former prime minister Gordon Brown on phone yesterday, before meeting Cameron, amounted to a diplomatic slight. Referring to the storm caused by Cameron's statement in India about Pakistan's stand on terrorism, Warsi wrote in The Sun today: "What seems to have been lost in the headlines is that Pakistan is a friend of the UK.
And a friendship is meaningless unless you can be honest with each other. It is absurd to deny that Pakistan has a problem with extremism and terror inside its country."
She added: "Raising this issue and speaking candidly about it is the very least that a true friend can do."
Meanwhile, Pakistan's cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan's party is organising a protest in Birmingham on Saturday, when Bilawal Bhutto is scheduled to take over the reins of the ruling Pakistan People's Party from his father.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf UK coordinator Rabia Zia said: "Pakistanis are struggling to cope with the worst floods in 80 years while the 'elected' President starts a 5-day visit to the UK using the taxpayers money. This is the height of callousness".
The remarks of British Prime Minister in India over Pakistan promoting "export of terror" has sparked a diplomatic row between the Islamabad and London. The British Prime Minster had said, "There has been and still is a problem of terror groups in Pakistan that threaten other countries.
"[They] also threaten our troops in Afghanistan, threaten India and threaten us in the UK, and need to be dealt with," Cameron said. Cameron in public remarks in Bangalore had said, "We cannot tolerate in any sense that this country (Pakistan) is allowed to look both ways and is able in any way to promote the export of terror."
