By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent, and News Agencies
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf defended on Saturday his government's talks with Israel, saying contact between the two countries is in accordance with the tenets of Islam.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri on Thursday met with Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom in Istanbul in the first publicly acknowledged high-level contact between the predominantly Muslim nation and the Jewish state.
Musharraf said Islam allowed its followers to engage with people of other faiths.
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"Islam is a religion of peace and it has lived in peace and harmony with other faiths for centuries and can do so in future as well," an official statement quoted him as saying while speaking to Kasuri, who returned home on Saturday.
Musharraf reiterated Pakistan would not recognize Israel until a Palestinian state was established.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who was also present in the meeting, said Pakistan would decide about the recognition of Israel "in the supreme national interest after due consultations."
Pakistan's foreign ministry said Musharraf had no plans to meet Prime Minister Ariel Sharon during his visit to New York this month to attend the United Nations General Assembly. Shalom had said Thursday he had discussed the possibility of such a meeting in talks with Kasuri.
However, he would address the American Jewish Congress in New York as part of Pakistan's efforts to promote interfaith harmony among various religions, a statement reported.
Earlier Saturday, Kasuri briefed the country's leadership about his landmark meeting with Shalom, hours after he returned home amid tight security, an official said.
An official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said Kasuri "gave all details" about his meeting with Shalom.
Pakistan - the world's only Islamic nuclear-armed power - in the past has taken a harder line against Israel than some Arab countries.
Pakistan made the decision to hold talks with Israel after the implementation of the disengagement plan.
Pakistani PM defends talks with Israel to Muslim clerics Aziz on Friday defended Thursday's talks with Israel as Muslim clerics denounced the shift in policy in fiery sermons during prayers, but planned street protests fell flat.
"There is no harm in having talks," Aziz told the lower house of the National Assembly, where opposition Islamist legislators walked out in token protest.
Lawmakers from the coalition staged a walkout of the lower house of the parliament to condemn the government for not consulting them before sending Kasuri for talks with his Israeli counterpart.
"If we have met somebody this does not mean we agree with them. We may be able to change their stand," Aziz said.
Aziz also said the decision to hold talks with Israel was based on a request from Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas who wanted them to play a role in helping to resolve the Middle East crisis.
Kasuri, talking to reporters in Dubai during a stopover before returning home after meeting in Istanbul with Shalom, said the move would give Pakistan "diplomatic space."
"Frankly [secret] contacts have been going on for decades, but we wanted to send a signal to the Israeli government and people that the assumption that Islamic countries cannot live in peace with the Jewish state is not correct, if Israel were to vacate occupied territory," Kasuri said.
Protests fall flat For all the rabble-rousing in more radical mosques, street protests planned by Islamist opposition parties were poorly attended.
Munawar Hassan, secretary general of the Jamaat-e-Islami (Islamic Party), warned Kasuri would be greeted by black flags when he returns home, but in the capital Islamabad, a protest in front of a press club mustered less than 100 supporters.
From his stronghold in Peshawar, the provincial capital of North West Frontier Province, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, a leader of the alliance of six Islamist parties accused Musharraf of compromising over Afghanistan, Kashmir and now Palestine, and pledged to launch a countrywide protest.
But only a few hundred supporters came out on the streets of Peshawar on Friday, albeit chanting with gusto "al jihad, al jihad" and "America's friend is the nation's traitor" and "al jihad, al jihad" in a summons to join a holy war.
Malaysia: Muslim countries shouldn't rush to embrace Israel Malaysia's foreign minister said Friday that Muslim countries shouldn't be too quick to embrace Israel following its Gaza pullout, which he said is merely "a small step" toward establishing an independent state for the Palestinians.
Malaysia, which chairs the world's largest Islamic political grouping, has no immediate plan to establish formal ties with Israel, said Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar.
"It's not wrong for any nation to have interaction with Israel's foreign minister to convey the desire of Muslim nations to see the establishment of a Palestinian state," Syed Hamid told reporters. "But we shouldn't simply consider that the problems in that region have been solved because of the Gaza pullout, which is a small step."
In a statement issued after the meeting, Shalom said, "Meetings such as this are a source of great encouragement and hope to the Israeli people." He added that "such contacts also help strengthen the moderates on the Palestinian side."
The meeting was expected to be followed by confidence-building measures, such as a relaxation of Pakistan's ban against travel to Israel, an Israeli official said. Shalom said he and Kasuri had decided to take several diplomatic steps that were still in the initial stages.
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