<b>Musharraf takes secret route </b>

Daily Mirror

ISLAMABAD Monday (AFP) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf left today on a five-day trip to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka that will include discussions on Pakistan's stand off with India.

Musharraf flew out of Islamabad this morning for Dhaka, on a route that will avoid flying over India, despite New Delhi's concession in June to reopen airspace to Pakistani flights, protocol officials said. They declined to disclose the alternative route Musharraf's plane would take.

The military ruler will spend two nights in Dhaka, capital of what was once East Pakistan until a bloody nine-month civil war in 1971 saw the emergence of an independent Bangladesh.

He will head to Colombo on Wednesday for an overnight visit.

Musharraf is scheduled to pay courtesy calls on Bangladeshi President Jamiruddin Sircar and Prime Minister Khaleda Zia after arriving Monday afternoon.

Formal talks with Zia are set for Tuesday. They will cover bilateral relations focussing on trade, as well as tensions with India over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, protocol officials said.

Musharraf is also scheduled to place wreaths at a memorial for the 1971 independence martyrs and the grave of slain president Ziaur Rahman, Zia's late husband.

Commerce Minister Razak Dawood, Information Minister Nisar Memon, Environment Minister Shahida Jamil, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Inam ul Haq and Defence Secretary Lieutenant General Hamid Nawaz are accompanying Musharraf.

He will be the first South Asian leader to visit Bangladesh since Zia's Islamist-allied government came to office nine months ago. He is the third Pakistani leader to visit Bangladesh.

Dhaka's envoy to Pakistan, Ambassador Haleem-ul-Haq said the visit will promote "understanding" and encourage trade.

"The more exchanges of high level visits we have between our two Muslim countries, the better will it be for the understanding between the leadership and there will certainly be a reflection of understanding among the people", he told the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan.

It imports mainly tea, jute and betel leaves from Bangladesh.

In Colombo Musharraf is to discuss trade and regional issues and sign a frame-work treaty setting out a future free trade pact with Sri Lanka.

-Daily Mirror-