Zardari to arrive in UK on three-day visit

Prez Asif Ali Zardari arrives in London on a visit,even as the UK,the US and Western allies met in Istanbul to draft a 'Marshall Plan for Pakistan' to help rebuild the swaths of the country destroyed in the ongoing war against Taliban.

President Asif Ali Zardari arrives here tomorrow on a three-day visit,even as the UK,the US and Western allies today met in Istanbul to draft a Marshall Plan for Pakistan to help rebuild the swaths of the country destroyed in the ongoing war against Taliban militants.

President Zardari is coming on a private visit and his programme is being worked out, Islamabads High Commissioner to the UK,Wajid Samsul Hasan said on Tuesday.

According to sources,Zardari will meet British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his cabinet colleagues.

World leaders meeting in Istanbul focused on helping Pakistan to rebuild infrastructure in those areas affected by the war,rewarding Islamabad for its repulsion of the Taliban. More than USD 5 billion has been already pledged.

The group Friends of Democratic Pakistan was established last September,but its work has been given a focus by the crisis that resulted from the fighting.

The group which includes ministers from Japan,Turkey,Saudi Arabia,Germany,France,China,Australia and EU officials,met to agree funding and draft in experts for a series of projects to support reconstruction.

Of the USD 5 billion already been pledged,about USD 2.5 billion of which has been earmarked to help rebuild homes,roads and hospitals damaged in the Pakistani Armys operation to break the Talibans hold on Swat Valley.

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The Marshall Plan,named after George Marshall,the US secretary of state after the Second World War,provided funds and to help with the reconstruction of Europe.

Pakistani diplomats called for their own Marshall Plan earlier this year,saying the country needed USD 30 billion over the next five years to fight Taliban and al-Qaeda militants.

Brown and US President Barack Obama will co-chair the next meeting in New York next month,when the scale of funding and support will be finalised.

Britain is expected to take a lead role in creating an education task force to explore non-madrassah schools. It will also play a role in developing new public-private partnerships to accelerate new investment in services.

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The UK has pledged 650 million pounds in development assistance in NWFP for a period of three years. It also donated 10 million pound sterling in emergency assistance to provide fund,water and other critical humanitarian needs for IDPs (internally displaced persons) uprooted from Swat after Army launched crackdown against militants.