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Chief Executive: Ladies and gentlemen, I am very pleased and Pakistan is honoured with the presence of the UN Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan. And I want to say that the Secretary-General has made us a promise when I was at the Millennium Summit that he will visit the region. May I say to his credit that he has upheld his promise and he is here in the region. I am very sure that his presence here will bring about a change in the environment. I wish him success in the mission and all that I would like to say is that we are extremely honoured to have him here in Pakistan. We have had an excellent interaction with the Secretary-General and his delegation. I would with these initial words open the floor for discussion on any questions that you would like to ask or if the Secretary-General would like to initiate before you ask any question. Would you like to say something?

SG: I think, Mr. Chief Executive, you said it all. Only I want to say that I am indeed very happy to be here, to have had the chance to cover the ground that we have covered this evening and since we do not have too much time, let's take the questions.

Q: Excellency, my question is that last night you have given a press statement regarding the Kashmir issue. The prescription was that India and Pakistan should cooperate on the Kashmir issue. The Chief Executive sitting around this room has already stated and offered India that he is ready to meet the Indian leadership any time--at any time, any place, and at any level. But the Indian government's response is not so positive. [Inaudible] what [should] the United Nations and the Secretary-General of the United Nations [do], do you suppose? What should we do, what should India do, and what should you do? Thank you.

SG: I think the efforts to come together should continue. India and Pakistan have had exchanges in the past. You've managed to get the Lahore [Declaration] going and I hope that in the future, hopefully not in the too distant future, that the kind of engagement that you are referring to will be possible and, of course, as Secretary-General I would encourage both parties to come together to discuss the enterprises.

Q: Sir, the Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Mutawakil said that you discussed the issue of Osama bin Laden and that there were new proposals that you hoped would result in some positive improvement. Could you tell us what exactly you discussed on the issue of Osama bin Laden and did the Taliban Foreign Minister say, confirm, that the statues, the Buddha statues, have been destroyed?

SG: We did not, there were no concrete proposals concerning Osama bin Laden as such but we did discuss terrorism and the need for Afghanistan to co-operate with the international community. As to your second question, yes I did discuss the statues with the Foreign Minister and I walked away from the meeting not very encouraged. Basically, he confirmed that all moveable statues have been destroyed and that the destruction of the two statues [the Bamyan Buddhas] had begun but he could not tell me the status of the demolition. And I was, I had hoped for much better news, and we then went on. And I must say I find if they do carry through this lamentable decision, I think they will be doing themselves a great deal of disservice and they will be doing a great deal of disservice to Islam in whose name they claim to be doing this. But I do not think anyone will accept that because not many, or hardly any, Islamic scholars or religious leaders have supported their position. And in fact, I did tell the Minister that true faith elicits respect and you feel you have to respect what is sacred to others, and I have often said that when you run across religious people, it is usually not the faith, not the Quran, but the faithful and how they sometimes behave.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, some time back Pakistan had proposed that the United Nations appoint a special envoy for the resolution of the Kashmir issue. What are your comments? Do you agree with this proposal or not?

SG: I think, as Secretary-General, my good offices are always available but for it to be effective it should be acceptable to both parties, which is clearly not the case at the moment.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, I wish to ask you--is the world body so helpless that India has asked any party from outside to interfere in the affairs between Pakistan and India, and the United Nations say, all right. Do you agree or are agreeable to the contention that no party, no person , no country should interfere in this part of the world where the blood is shedding and I would like to have your comments about the offer of Pakistan to resume dialogue with India unconditionally. Thank you very much.

SG: I think I have answered the second question already. But as to the first question I am not clear that I got it. You are arguing that India has indicated nobody from outside the region should interfere in Kashmir? I think, obviously, for any third party role to be effective India has to co-operate with that third party, and if that is not possible then what would the third party do? What role will the third party play? The third party as I have indicated can encourage the two parties to come together, work with the two parties, but cannot be a mediator. A mediator has to be accepted. It is as simple as that.

Q: But don't you think that the United Nations has failed in the case of India and Pakistan?

SG: I see another hand there, yes.

Q: Sir, again on Afghanistan. Did you discuss the humanitarian issue with Foreign Minister Mutawakil? And what is the UN position because the situation in Afghanistan is getting worse now? Do you have any new suggestions?

SG: Yes, we spent a considerable amount of time on the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, which I consider tragic, and we are making desperate efforts to raise more money to be able to help the Afghans, both within Afghanistan and outside Afghanistan. There are about a million people displaced, internally displaced in Afghanistan. They need help desperately and we are doing our best to get as much help to them. We've launched an appeal and we are working the phones with governments to get urgent money to them. So we will work with the government here to help those who are here and then assist those in Afghanistan.

Q: (inaudible) How damaging is the Buddha episode to humanitarian efforts?

SG: Obviously, some donors will be turned off. I do not think it is going to please them and [I don't think it] is going to make it easier to raise money. But we have to think of the people, the people who are in a tragic, desperate situation, who had nothing to do with the decision to destroy the Buddha. And I think a hungry child is a hungry child and we should do whatever we can to assist the people.

Q: During your talk with the Chief Executive, did you discuss the issue of Afghan refugees here and the ban on new Afghan refugees coming to Pakistan and the conditions at the Jalozai camp?

SG: We did discuss it, and I will be going there tomorrow.

Q: But were you encouraged by the Pakistan government's reaction to the ban on the entrance of new refugees?

SG: I think I've had a very good discussion with the Chief Executive and I'm very pleased with the outcome of the discussions. And as I indicated to you, we will be helping Afghan refugees here as well as in Afghanistan. And we will work with the government to provide assistance to the refugees.

Chief Executive: May I add sir, with your permission: We certainly had unanimity of views on the subject, that we ought to have a very balanced view on the issue of refugees, balanced support to the refugees who are in Pakistan, and also support to the needy within Afghanistan. And we requested the Secretary-General that the aid to be provided should have greater concentration on support within Afghanistan so that the people, the refugees coming into Pakistan from Afghanistan, are reduced to the minimum. That was one of the areas and of course Pakistan would like to co-operate with assisting the refugees, the Afghan refugees, in Pakistan.

Q: Will they be registered? Will they be allowed to be registered or moved from Jalozai to another camp? Is there a yes or a no on that one?

SG: I think what I have agreed here is that the details will be worked out between the High Commissioner for Refugees and the team. It may be necessary to move them to another site and to set up a camp where their basic needs will be fulfilled and that is also a possibility. Yes, we discussed it.

Q: Has Pakistan agreed to this?

Chief Executive: We need to examine this, yes. We certainly have agreed that we are going to examine this situation. It's not very easy to shift thousands of refugees from one camp to the other. We need to examine whether facilities can be improved in the existing camps or they need to be shifted to a better location for improving the facilities.

Q: In view of the situation in Kashmir, is there a possibility of upgrading the UN mission in the region and sending political observers also in addition to the military observers who are already stationed?

SG: In Kashmir? I think for a long time we have had the military observers and again you go back to the question of co-operation and agreement with both parties, and given the current situation I'm not sure your suggestion is going to be feasible.

Q: Is there any specific indication from any country that they would reduce aid, humanitarian aid, to Afghanistan, because the Japanese ambassador here or some official here was quoted as saying that, if the statues are destroyed, aid would be reduced? And the second question is: would there be any serious discussion about chances of reconstruction for Afghanistan to help the UN mediation process from Mr Vendrell's process? Would you raise that at all seriously in the 6+2 [an advisory group of Afghanistan's six neighbours plus Russia and the US] or in any other forum?

SG: I think on your first question, on the Taliban and the destruction of the statues, no government has told me categorically that if they do that we would not help the desperate and the starving people of Afghanistan. As I indicated, it may not help with our fund raising efforts, but I think we're going to make the efforts to get the money and I trust we will. On your second question, we have not got into the issue of reconstruction and development and raising funds for the very reason that most people were hoping to see us make progress on the political front with what Vendrell is doing with the 6+2. We've got some humanitarian aid going in but I would hardly call it developmental, and I think that if the donors see real progress being made with prospects for an end to the fighting then we will be able to raise money for reconstruction, but at this stage we haven't raised much money. Thank you very much.