Armitage, Rocca put off Pak visit

In a sudden move, US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Assistant Secretary Christina Rocca have put off their visit to Pakistan.

Also see: Pak army launches operation against Al Qaeda
 
The visit was scheduled to start Thursday. Armitage and Rocca were to hold talks with President Pervez Musharraf and other senior government officials.

"They are not coming. The visit has been postponed due to scheduling issues," Pakistan foreign office spokesman
Masood Khan told PTI.

Khan said Pakistan was informed about the postponement, but "he will be coming, very shortly, may be in the next few days."

Khan said the postponement has nothing to do with a major operation launched by the Pakistan army to crackdown on Al Qaeda militants.

"The postponement is purely due to scheduling issues. We spoke to the US government and they said they will convey new dates shortly," he said.

Armitage and Rocca were scheduled to be in Kabul on Friday. On Saturday they were to meet Musharraf in Islamabad.

"Both the Afghan and Pakistani legs of the trip have been postponed," Khan said.