Pakistan upbeat on entry into ARF

Pakistan upbeat on entry into ARF

PAKISTAN: Prime Minister Zafrullah Khan Jamali on Tuesday
expressed confidence that rival India would agree to Pakistan's
entry into a security forum of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN).

Pakistan's admission into the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) was
blocked on technical grounds last year by India, which is one of
the forum's 23 members, but Jamali is now hopeful of success
because of warming relations between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

"I feel that there will be no blockade from the Indian side,"
the prime minister was quoted as saying by the state Associated
Press of Pakistan news agency. "I feel confident."

Indian officials were not immediately available for comment on
Tuesday.

Earlier this month, Pakistan's foreign ministry said it had
approached all the forum's members, including India, to admit it
into the ARF.

The forum is Asia's largest security grouping. It includes the
10 member nations of ASEAN, as well as 13 dialog partners from
Asia and the Pacific and the West, including China, Japan, Russia
and the United States. They discuss political and security issues
of mutual concern, including the threat of terrorism. --AP