Musharraf-Barak meeting 'shameful'

Press TV reports:

Pakistan's United Council of Action has criticized President Pervez Musharraf for meeting Israeli war minister Ehud Barak in France.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Senator Khurshid Ahmed, the council's parliamentary leader, termed the meeting a violation of Pakistan's principled position and said it tarnished the country's image in the Arab and Islamic world.

It is deplorable that President Musharraf invited Israeli minister to his hotel room in Paris where they held an hour-long meeting reportedly over Iran's nuclear program, the statement said.

He said that it was 'shameful' that President of Pakistan met a representative of a regime that has been founded based on the massacre and displacing of the native Palestinians and still continues bloodshed.

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry confirmed media reports on Monday that Musharraf and Barak had met "by chance" last week in Paris.

Foreign ministry sources said Musharraf and Barak held two separate meetings, first at the Hotel Raphael. The following day, at Musharraf invitation, the two met again for an hour.

Barak reportedly expressed concern over the security of Pakistan's nuclear facilities, at the meeting.

Pakistan's United Council of Action, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, is a coalition of religious-political parties.