Pak to raise US-Iran standoff at OIC FMs meeting

Islamabad, Apr 30: Fearing a US attack on Iran, Pakistan willraise the issue at the OIC Foreign Ministers' meeting scheduled for May14-17 here to avert another conflict in the region and evolve consensusamong the Muslim states to cope with the emergent situation.

''The possibility of US attack on Iran is very much there owing tothe imminent American failure in Iraq and Afghanistan and it is goingto be catastrophic for the regional peace and stability,'' The Nationnewspaper quoted a senior official as saying.

He said the Bush administration was most likely to open a new warfront if the situation went on deteriorating in Iraq and Afghanistan,and things did not improve by the end of 2007.

He said the United States would hold elections for the Presidentand Vice President next year and the Bush administration would like toboost the chances of Republican victory by resorting to war againstTehran to lessen the damage inflicted as a result of Iraq and Afghanwars.

The official said Pakistan would take up the Iran-US standoff fordeliberations during the forthcoming Islamic countries ForeignMinisters' meeting in a bid to evolve a joint strategy for averting warbetween Washington and Tehran.

He said the United States could also opt for air strikes insteadof full-fledged war against Iran to damage its nuclear programme topush it several years back.

When asked about the other issues to be taken for discussions inthe OIC Foreign Ministers' meeting, the official said the foreignministers from Islamic countries would deliberate upon the vital matterof ''Islamophobia'' and in this context the state of relations betweenthe West and Muslim world.

Apart from that, he said Kashmir, Palestine and OIC reforms wouldbe the other important issues being discussed at the Foreign Ministers'meeting.

UNI

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