Zardari to dine with Cameron, says no to stay at Chequers
The President, Mr Asif Ali Zardari, has spurned an offer to spend the night at the British Prime Minister's, country retreat at Chequers, but is to go ahead with his meeting with Mr David Cameron to confront his charges of Pakistan promoting "export of terror" head-on. Though the 'Daily Mail' described the turning down of invitation as "Zardari's snub to Cameron", Downing Street denied that Pakistan President had snubbed the Prime Minister by refusing to spend the night at the picturesque Chequers. The decision not to stay at the Chequers was said to be due to a "diary clash", sources at Downing Street said. Mr Zardari's first "face-to-face" meeting with Mr Cameron over dinner would come after the recently-elected British leader suggested elements in Pakistan backed "the export of terror" to its neighbours Afghanistan and India. The Pakistan President in comments made in Paris before flying to London had vowed to confront the charges head-on during his visit here. "I will explain face to face that it is my country that is paying the highest price in human life for this war," he told the French Daily 'Le Monde'. The meeting at the informal dinner would come amid continuing diplomatic tensions between the two countries, with officials hoping that the strains would be eased. Mr Zardari will travel again to Chequers on Friday for formal talks between the two. Besides the diplomatic row, the Pakistan President visit here has been clouded by a clamour back home that he cut short what Pakistani opposition parties are calling a "joy ride". A number of Pakistani-origin lawmakers in UK have refused to meet Zardari, saying that he should have cancelled his visit as his country was reeling under worst-ever floods. Mr Zardari met Conservative party chairperson Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, and is scheduled to meet Home secretary Theresa May on Thursday. Political observers say that Mr Zardari speaking to former Prime Minister Mr Gordon Brown, on phone yesterday, before meeting Cameron, amounted to a diplomatic slight. Referring to the storm caused by Cameron's statement in India about Pakistan's stand on terrorism, Warsi wrote in The Sun on Thursday: "What seems to have been lost in the headlines is that Pakistan is a friend of the UK.
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