Around 8.30 pm on Friday,well after the last speaker had finished,and the Mayor of Munichs reception was winding to its end,a posh sedan pulled up in front of the Hotel Bayerischer Hof. A young Pakistan Army officer in full military attire jumped out of the front seat and rushed to open the rear door. From the car emerged the most unusual guest at this years Munich Security Conference: Pakistan Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. Kayani straightened his civilian suit,adjusted his classic long British hat,apparently to avoid reporters,and walked swiftly through the door into the conferences restricted area. Ah,there comes Kayani, remarked a young American diplomat as Pakistans most powerful man strode by. This is Kayanis first appearance at this prestigious annual conference,which US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and US National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon are also attending. Had he arrived some 20 minutes earlier,Kayani would have undoubtedly have run into Indias National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon,who had by then left the reception for,perhaps,a dinner meeting elsewhere. But over the weekend,the two will have ample opportunity to more than just run into each other. This would be the first time that India would made high-level contact with the Pakistan Army Chief,but no approach had been made until this afternoon. Kayani attended the first session of the day and then went into a closed door meeting with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and British Prime Minister David Cameron. Emerging from the meeting,Karzai said,The future of Afghanistan looks good,and we have a great relationship with Pakistan. Kayani,however,maintained a studied silence. When confronted before the meeting,he had shown warmth and charm,shaking hands,but declined to comment on anything. No,no,I have a bilateral to attend. As Pakistan Army Chiefs go,Kayani is different. He surprised his support staff by not walking out of the meeting along with Karzai and Cameron; they rushed in to find that the General had stepped out of a side door into a small open space for a smoke with one of his aides. He then had his ADC take him out through the hotel staff offices even as other delegation members waited at the regular exit. Kayani kept moving in and out of the conference for meetings,all of which seemed Af-Pak related. But the script,some Pakistani officials here explained,was supposed to be different. Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi,who chose not to go to Thimphu for the SAARC ministers meeting,was slated to come here on Friday evening. Kayani was supposed to be part of his delegation and meant to hold a few quiet meetings with important NATO leaders and participate in some other important ones with Qureshi. Qureshi,Pakistani officials said,was also slated to meet Menon here as Foreign Secretaries Nirupama Rao and Salman Bashir prepared to meet in Thimphu on Sunday. The Pakistan foreign minister,however,pulled out at the last minute after a major cabinet downsizing and reshuffle was announced in Islamabad on Friday. There was some speculation here that Qureshi cancelling the trip might well be an indication that President Asif Ali Zardari is planning a bigger change.
