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Clinton’s ’Few Hours' in Islamabad

Aziz Haniffa writes from Washington
***The decision comes after an advance team spent a week in Pakistan scouring Islamabad and its environs, scrutinising the security situation for a presidential stopover with a fine tooth comb before returning to Washington and giving the final okay to decision makers in the White House.***
AFTER agonising over the Issue for weeks, the White House has decided that President $111 Clinton will stop over In Islamabad for a few hours and confer with military leader Gen. Pervez Musharraf, senior administration and diplomatic sources said.
Sources told India Abroad News Service that an announcement of this decision would be made by the White House either on Monday or Tuesday.
The decision was made following a National Security Council meeting chaired by National Security Adviser Samuel Berger, his top aides and other senior officials from various departments and agencies, including the State Department and the Pentagon.
The sources said the decision comes after an advance team spent a week in Pakistan scouring Islamabad and its environs, scrutinising the security situation for a presidential stopover with a fine tooth comb before returning to Washington and giving the final okay to decision makers In the White House.
One source said the stopover by Clinton may involve Air Force One touching down on an air force base near Islamabad on Its way back to Washington from Mumbai and the President having a luncheon discussion with Musharraf and his cabinet
Thus, they said, there would be no fanfare of a motorcade from Islamabad Airport to the city for a meeting with the Pakistani leaders and his aides, avoiding giving the meeting any legitimacy of a state visit.
Meanwhile. Indian Ambassador Naresh Chandra, who was slated to meet White House Chief of Staff John Podesta on Friday. was requested instead to come in for a meeting on March 8 as Berger wanted to attend as well.
According to sources. Berger is likely to explain to Chandra the rationale for the administration's decision to have Clinton stop over In Pakistan, which New Delhi, while saying it's a sovereign decision of the U.S., hinted would not go down well with the Indian public
Chandra told LANS that if Berger starts bringing up the issue of Pakistan and the reasons for Clinton deciding to stop over In that country, he would simply state; "Let's forget about Pakistan. let's talk about India.'
Some analysts said it is a tremendous comedown for Pakistan to have Clinton spend only a few hours in the country that was Washington's former strategic ally after spending five days In India and a full day in Bangladesh.
They felt fundamentalists in Pakistan would give Musharraf a hard time saying it was an insult to the country and Its people that the only reason Clinton would stop over at all for a lew hours was to lecture the military dictator about how important it is for Pakistan to return to democratic rule and the grave con-Sequences If It doesn't.
Meanwhile, some members of the Congressional Caucus on India were privately grumbling that co-chair Gary Ackerman was sitting on a letter to be sent to the President, urging him not to visit Islamabad.
They said the letter should have been sent days ago before the White House could reach a decision on whether Clinton would stop over in Islamabad or not and to counter a letter delivered to the White House on February 22 by nine Democratic Senators urging the President to visit Pakistan.
-India Abroad News Service