STOCKHOLM: Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said it was immaterial which party came to power in India because all the parties had similar views on Kashmir.
“Whoever comes to power in India it is of no significance because they all have the same views on Kashmir,” (sh Bhutto cad in reply to questions. Ms., Bhutto, who arrived for a state Visit I received much adulation from Swedish officialdom and press and a little protest from her country folk domiciled here.
She landed at Stockholm’s Arlanda airport in windy spring weather, accompanied by husband Asif Ali Zardari, Defence minister Aftab ‘Shaaban Merani, Economic Adviser Shabid Hassan Khan and an entourage of nearly 50 persons, This is Ms. Bhutto’s first state visit to Sweden. The visit should have taken place in 1991, but by the time the invitation could be responded she was displaced from power. From the airport, the party drove in along caravan of black limousines to the sylvan former royal hunting castle ‘of Haga, the same in which her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had been accommodated during his state visit in 1978.
The Pakistani visit is considered bilaterally of immense significance on economic, political and social issues. “L will present the conflicts in Pakistani 10 Our hosts in their right perspective,” said Ms. Bhutto upon arrival. “Pakistan suffers from a bad image as a middle-aged, fundamentalist and primitive society, There also exists another Pakistan that must be shown: to Europe and Sweden is very important for Western opinion,” a spokesperson for the delegation said upon arrival.
The presence of the Defence Minister in the visiting delegation strengthens the suspicion of Indian diplomatic circles about Swedish desire 10 export new weapons to Pakistan. However, Ms., Bhutto denied any such plans.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 15, 1996
