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Chris Patten, the European Union's influential external relations commissioner, will arrive in Islamabad on May 20 with a message to clamp down harder on terrorism. He will also discuss the October elections and the country's return to democracy.
"Obviously, one of the messages that I will be taking to Islamabad is that Pakistan should do everything to clamp down on terrorism," Patten said in an interview from Brussels to Dawn, an influential Pakistani daily.
"We recognise that there were things that were promised in [President Pervez Musharraf's] January speech -- arrests, prevention of terrorism across the Line of Control in Kashmir and sending convicted terrorists to India -- which would all contribute to improvement of the situation," he said.
Patten said he would be interested in what the Pakistani government had to say about its attempts to prevent terrorism from being generated by extremists on Pakistani soil.
"I will say to Pakistan what EU political directors said to India a couple of weeks ago, namely that despite the provocation of terrorism -- such as the atrocity in Jammu recently -- we hope that people on both sides will not lose sight of the importance of dialogue and confidence-building."
He, however, said his mission was not aimed at playing the role of mediator. "But what we can do as friends of India and Pakistan is to encourage the reduction of tensions by talking to both sides."
He clarified that Europe was not seeking to take sides "except in the sense that we are totally and implacably opposed to anyone who encourages terrorism".
Patten also cautioned Musharraf against veering off the democratic path. He said concerns over the April 30 referendum had "made it more difficult to persuade the European Parliament to ratify the EU-Pakistan cooperation agreement".
The visit is vital to Pakistani interests because what lies at stake is the further reinforcement of Pakistan's newly revived relationship with the European Union and access to millions of euros in aid and trade benefits.
The EU assembly and European governments will watch the October election carefully to see how they are conducted, with focus on the mechanisms employed and on issues like freedom of assembly and the role of the media.
Patten also said the EU was "extremely well-disposed to sending an observation mission" to monitor the election.
"But obviously we'd want to be assured that the mission could do its job properly and with reasonable security. I think that there will be a great deal of interest in the European Union in what democracy is actually going to mean in Pakistan after the elections."
Stating that Pakistan's past experiments with democracy had run into problems of corruption and violence, Patten said, "Nobody wants to see those reassert themselves."
PTI
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