ISLAMABAD – Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who was supposed to leave for Germany on Friday to attend the “Munich Security Conference” on Afghanistan, was stopped from the significant visit by President Asif Ali Zardari due to the expedited dissolution of the federal cabinet, following an announcement in this regard by the ruling party, the Pakistan People’s Party.
Qureshi and Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani were to represent Pakistan at the security talk on Afghanistan in Munich, but now only the army chief would be traveling to Germany for the discussion. “The decision by the president to stop Foreign Minister Qureshi, who is likely to retain his slot in the new cabinet, reflects that the federal cabinet could be dissolved anytime now,” an official said.
He said it was planned earlier that he should proceed with the important trip and the dissolution of the cabinet could take place when he returned. Qureshi was also to meet his American counterpart Hillary Clinton on the sidelines of the Munich conference and inform her about Pakistan’s position on the Raymond Davis’s issue.
However, the official said there was a possibility of a meeting between General Kayani and the US secretary of state in which various aspects of bilateral ties would be discussed.
