Prince Charles' Pak visit to begin tomorrow

Islamabad, Oct 28: The British royal couple, Prince Charles and Princess Camilla Parker will arrive here tomorrow on a first-ever three-day visit to Pakistan.

Prince Charles will meet President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and discuss the prospects of increase in cooperation in various fields, 'The Nation' quoted officials here as saying.

Important global issues including terrorism, Afghanistan and Iraq, Iranian nuclear issue, Indo-Pak peace process and West Asian situation will come under discussion.

An official said strict security arrangements have been made to avert any untoward incident during the visit of the British royal couple to Islamabad with thousands of extra paramilitary and police personnel being stationed in the capital city.

Strict exclusion zones would be enforced at every destination that would mean a ban on all vehicles and pedestrians.

Prince Charles, the official said, would remain in the capital city during his visit to Pakistan.

The Prince of Wales had expressed desire to meet with local Pakistanis and was keen to avoid tough security measures taken during US President George W Bush's visit in March.

However, President Musharraf was concerned about the safety of the Prince and his wife Camilla and vetoed Charles' wishes and imposing unprecedented security measures.

The Prince has insisted on visiting a number of cities, rather than remaining in the diplomatic quarter of the capital city of Islamabad.

UNI