Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Pakistan on Thursday on his first visit here for talks on the situation in the Middle East, an official said. Abbas will meet with President Gen. Pervez Musharraf at his official residence in the capital Islamabad where a formal welcoming ceremony will take place and where a "red carpet has been rolled out" for the Palestinian leader, an official in Musharraf's office said on condition of anonymity. Abbas, who arrived at a military airport near Islamabad, will meet with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and other senior government officials after talks with Musharraf, he was quoted as saying by The Associated Press. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani said this week that Islamabad would continue to extend "unequivocal and unreserved support to the Palestinian cause, the fundamental elements of which are the total withdrawal of Israeli forces from occupied Arab territories including Al-Quds city."
