India-Pakistan relations, bilateral relations, nuclear non-proliferation and United Nations Security Council reforms figured in talks Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi had with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday.
Koizumi, who arrived in Islamabad from New Delhi on a two-day visit, held two-hour-long one-to-one meeting with Musharraf during which a host of issues, including Pakistan's commitment to the India-Pak peace process, figured.
Read about Musharraf's visit to India
He also held talks with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. Nuclear proliferation, which is of concern to Japan specially in the aftermath of the disclosures by disgraced nuclear scientist A Q Khan and the proposed UN reforms and Tokyo's bid for permanent membership at the UNSC also came up for discussion.
Musharraf briefed Koizumi on his talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his recent visit to New Delhi and apprised the visiting leader about Pakistan's efforts to establish lasting peace in South Asia through resolution of all issues with India, including the Kashmir problem, state-run PTV said.
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The Japanese Prime Minister lauded Pakistan's desire for peaceful settlement of Kashmir issue with India and said long-term stability would bring progress and prosperity in South Asia, it said.
The issue of nuclear proliferation also figured prominently in Koizumi-Musharraf talks. The Pakistani leader said Islamabad is against nuclear proliferation and informed the Japanese Prime Minister about the steps taken in this regard.
Musharraf said Pakistan is a responsible member of the international community and has a strict command and control system in place and its nuclear weapons are in safe hands.
Ahead of Koizumi's visit, the Japanese Ambassador to Pakistan Nobuaka Tanaka had said Koizumi would raise the issue of proliferation and seek answers to several questions, specially the admission by Khan of supplying nuclear technology to North Korea.
During his visit, the first by a Japanese Prime Minister in five years, Koizumi is expected to announce resumption of yen-dominated loans suspended by Tokyo in 1998 after Pakistan conducted nuclear tests.
The two leaders also exchanged views on UN reforms, with Musharraf spelling out Islamabad's principled stance of making the world body more democratic, representative and effective, the network said.
The report was, however, silent on Japanese request for Pakistan's support for its UNSC bid along with India, Germany and Brazil.
Koizumi arrived in Islamabad from New Delhi where he firmed up Japanese bid for UNSC permanent membership along with India. A joint statement issued at the end of his visit in India said both Tokyo and New Delhi are "legitimate candidates" for permanent membership in an expanded the UNSC.
Pakistan, which is opposed to the UNSC expansion mainly due to its reservations about India getting it, faced a piquant situation in opposing Japan and Germany's bid, specially because Japan was the country's main donor till 1998.
