International   

Blair to visit Pakistan

Nirupama Subramanian

ISLAMABAD: A young Briton whose death sentence President Pervez Musharraf commuted was released on Friday, a day before the arrival of British Prime Minister Tony Blair who is expected to sign an agreement to double development assistance to Pakistan.

Mirza Tahir Hussain, a 36-year-old who was sentenced to death for the murder of a taxi driver 18 years ago, went a free man as he has already served out the maximum life sentence of 14 years.

A statement from the Foreign Ministry said Mr. Blair was visiting Pakistan for the third round of "bilateral summit consultations" set up in December 2004.

According to the statement, an area of prime concern for both countries was the situation in Afghanistan, necessitating "closer consultation and co-operation" to deal with it.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Democrats to resist troop plan
Hudood changes make waves
27 LTTE cadres killed, claims Army
Blair to visit Pakistan
I feel honoured by nomination: Royal
Green rules being flouted
Getting set to deflect asteroids that may one day head for the earth
Bird flu in Egypt
Bush hails defence links with India
India, Russia want Iran issue solved through talks

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu