London, Oct 2: Despite Iran having recalled some of its diplomats from Islamabad, Pakistan's information Minister Mushahid Hussein sounded optimistic about his country's ties with Iran saying that the possibility of a war between Iran and Afghanistan had receded.Hussein, speaking at a news conference at London's Foreign Press Association said, ``Our analysis is that tensions have subsided between Iran and Afghanistan,.. the prospect of war and conflict has receded.'' He said one more war between two Islamic nations, ``would have been disastrous for the Moslem world.''Tension between Iran and the Taliban, which now controls more than 90 per cent of Afghanistan, has put pressure on Pakistan's relations with Tehran. Iranian officials have accused Pakistan of actively supporting the Taliban offensive during which eight Iranian diplomats and a reporter from Iran's official news agency IRNA were killed in August.Hussein emphatically rejected any suggestion that Pakistan was playing a role in militaryaffairs in Afghanistan. He said ``Pakistan is not involved militarily .. or in any way'', adding, ``Our role is that of honest broker. We have no favourites in Afghanistan.'' Pressed on the issue of Pakistan's role in Afghanistan he said, ``We are today paying the price for the sins of the United States and the USSR.'' Standing a metaphor on its head he added, ``We were left holding the baby without the bath water.''Hussein also used the press conference to put his government's case to the press in London vis-a-vis accusations of corruption against the Nawaz Sharif family and suggestions that Pakistan is on the brink of martial law. Last week The Observer published a story claiming that it had seen documentary evidence that prime minister Nawaz Sharif's family had stashed away 40 million pounds in Swiss banks and purchased four luxury flats in London worth several million pounds.In reply to a question Hussein said that the veracity of this story was ``no different from the missing Pakistaniscientists story..'' He said it was all part of the ``sensationalist conclusions'' arrived at by the British press which has labelled Pakistan as aggressor since the nuclear tests in May.The Pakistan government has taken the unusual step of lodging a complaint with the British Press Complaints Commission with regard to this story. A Pakistan government spokesperson said that the Observer story ``sought to undermine and destabilise the democratic political process in Pakistan by presenting views that are not only far removed from fact or fair comment, but present allegations that are not corroborated by any evidence.''Apparently the former move comes after Hussein had met with the Observer foreign editor soon after arriving in London for what both sides described as ``a courtesy call''. The Observer reportedly continues to stand by its story.The High Commission spokesperson, Samina Parvez said that the Observer story relied on a spurious source. Hussein picked up this themeat the news conference describing Rehman Malik, the Pakistani police officer to him the information is attributed as ``a fugitive from justice''.Hussein was asked why his government had not responded in the same way to the story in another British publication, Jane's Defence Weekly, which claimed some weeks ago that there was evidence to prove Pakistan's material and military support for Taliban. Hussein simply said, ``As it happens, just this morning I have been to the offices of Jane's to set the record straight.'' He suggested that Jane's credibility was undermined by an earlier story attributed to Pakistani scientists which alleged that Pakistan had been preparing to attack India.
