PARIS, 3 July 2003 — Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf yesterday reiterated Islamabad’s willingness in principle to send peacekeepers to Iraq in response to US and British requests, but said a deal had not yet been reached.

“In principle, we agree to send forces, but there are certain modalities, certain contentious issues which need to be looked into before we take this decision,” Musharraf said after talks with French President Jacques Chirac.

The Pakistani leader kicked off a three-day visit to France, the final stop on a four-nation tour that included a high-profile stop in Washington, by meeting with Chirac and having lunch at the Elysee presidential palace.

The situation in Iraq, the global fight against terrorism, the dispute between India and Pakistan over the troubled region of Kashmir and the Middle East peace process were all on the agenda for the talks.

Pakistan said earlier this week it was prepared to send troops to Iraq, but only under the auspices of the United Nations or the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

The French leader, who staunchly opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein, reiterated his support for an “increased role for the United Nations” in Iraq, according to his spokeswoman Catherine Colonna.

Musharraf said he and Chirac had discussed the dispute between New Delhi and Islamabad over Kashmir, and that he had asked the French leader to convey his position on the issue to a high-level Indian official due in Paris next week.

Last week, the Pakistani leader suggested a Middle-East style peace road map on Kashmir that would include outside mediation, a proposal rejected by India.

Musharraf has faced increasing US pressure to put a stop to incursions by militants into Indian Kashmir, raids that his arch-rivals in India brand as state-sponsored terrorism.

On the Middle East, he told reporters that Pakistan “needs to reconsider its relationship with Israel” but said any talk of official recognition of the Jewish state, a move opposed by the country’s Islamic parties, was premature.

The two leaders also discussed the global fight against terrorism, Colonna said, specifically the trial of three militants sentenced to death by a Pakistani anti-terrorism court earlier this week for their involvement in a bombing that killed 11 French engineers last year in Karachi.

Musharraf, who arrived in France yesterday after stops in Britain, the United States and Germany, is to be the guest of honor later in the day at a dinner hosted by French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin.

He is also due to meet French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin and parliamentary deputies, and attend a conference on investment in Pakistan organized by French business leaders before heading home tomorrow.

Meanwhile, news reports said that Germany has lifted its ban on the supply of defense equipment to Pakistan. The newspaper was quoting President Pervez Musharraf.

“It is a matter of great delight. We will get spare parts of the radar system for the Pakistan Air Force,” Musharraf told accompanying Pakistani journalists after talks with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in Berlin, The News repaired.

Musharraf said the shift in Berlin’s policy became possible after he cleared up misconceptions held by Germany’s leaders about Pakistan and explained his government was seeking not offensive but defensive equipment, according to the newspaper.

“They had different perceptions about us regarding cross-border activities, terrorism and about the reports of the implementation of (Islamic) Shariah laws (in Pakistan),” he said.