Saturday, May 28 2005 12:12 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: Pakistan will wait till 'next time' if hardline Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani cannot come to Islamabad along with the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference due to 'health reasons'.

"We welcome the Kashmiri leadership in Pakistan and if Hurriyat leader Ali Geelani is not coming here due to his health problem this time, we will wait for him next time," Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid M Kasuri was quoted as saying by official APP news agency in his native Kasur town.

Leaders of the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference have already announced their decision to visit Pak-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Pakistan in response to Islamabad's invitation to come by the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus but Geelani said that he would not like to travel by the bus as he had opposed the service.

Kasuri said Pakistan will allow leaders of the ruling and Opposition parties based in PoK to visit Jammu and Kashmir and New Delhi. He, however, was silent about inviting elected leaders of the Jammu and Kashmir.

Refuting the criticism of the opposition parties on his Government's Kashmir policy, he said that people of Pakistan were satisfied with present foreign policy and are united over Kashmir issue. India had withdrawn its forces from the border in 2003 owing to our successful foreign policy under the dynamic leadership of Gen Pervez Musharraf, he said.

He said Pakistan had sent old parts of nuclear centrifuge to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna in connection with the probe in Iran's nuclear programme and would in no way pose a threat to the security of the country.

He further said that Pakistani experts will bring back those parts after their examination, he said.