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Powell to arrive in Islamabad amid "fears of talks on N-program"

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, March 16, IRNA -- Amid apprehensions by all opposition 
parties over Pakistan`s nuclear program, United States Secretary of 
State Colin Powell is to arrive here on Wednesday. 
Combined opposition lawmakers raised their voice against the 
expected agenda of talks between Pakistan and Colin Powell which they 
feared would include pressing Islamabad for the nuclear program`s 
rollback. 
Contrary to the fears, the government has declared that there 
could be no question of a rollback. "No nation can ever strike a deal 
on its own security," Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood told newsmen 
at the Parliament House last week, adding that the nuclear program was
a security guarantee on which no compromise could be made. 
An official of one of the two major opposition alliances, Mutahida
Majlis-e Amal Acting President Qazi Hussain Ahmed, alleged on Sunday 
that the agenda would focus on asking Pakistan to rollback its nuclear
program. 
On Tuesday, opposition lawmakers sounded their apprehensions over 
the agenda of visits to Islamabad of various senior officials of 
Western countries in recent days. They demanded that the government 
reveal what had transpired in talks. 
The British foreign secretary, French foreign minister and a top 
official from Germany`s Foreign Ministry visited Islamabad amid 
reports of pressure building for a rollback of the nuclear program. 
However, the government has repeatedly denied there was foreign 
pressure in this context and ruled out any compromise on the nuclear 
program. 
MHA/TSH/LS/210 
End