NEW DELHI, March 6 (UPI) -- Different sections of Pakistani society have expressed disappointment over the outcome of U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to the country.
The Hindu newspaper said Monday the religious parties dubbed it a visit in pursuit of the U.S. strategic goals on the war against terrorism. Mainstream political parties were agitated by the fact that the president did not have anything substantial to offer to Pakistan.
News reports in the Pakistani media also expressed disappointment over the visit, and described the trip as Clinton-II.
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton stayed in Islamabad for just five hours during his 2000 visit to south Asia.
"Bush's visit to Pakistan, it seems, was not a well thought-out affair. And then maybe it was. It did more harm to the relations between the two nations than his not visiting Pakistan would have had," said an editorial in leading daily newspaper The Statesman.
"Even before the U.S. President stepped on Pakistan's soil, there was a feeling that it was the kind of visit when one is passing by so near in the neighborhood and stops by at a poor relative's place for the sake of decorum," the editorial said.
"Expectations of solid assurances on Kashmir, a nuclear energy package or a defense deal remained unfulfilled," said Makhdoom Amin Fahim, chairman of the alliance for the restoration of democracy.
Fahim said Bush's visit was an informal one, and that the U.S. President was originally scheduled to visit India to sign historic agreements.
"Pakistan came on his itinerary by chance," Fahim said.
