AYUB BACK FROM TOUR

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30724, 13 April 1965, Page 15

AYUB BACK FROM TOUR

Russians To Return Visit (N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) KARACHI, April 12. President Ayub Khan received a tumultuous welcome from thousands of people today when he arrived by air in Lahore from Tashkent after an eight-day visit to the Soviet Union.

President Ayub, who left Moscow yesterday, said Pakistan’s policy of seeking friendship with all countries was evoking a positive response everywhere because it was sound, realistic and backed by the nation. In a statement he said that after his visits to China and the Soviet Union he was looking forward to going to the United States later this month.

President Ayub said it would be unrealistic to expect radical results from his visit to the Soviet Union, but he was sure relations between the countries would be progressively normalised and developed. “The Soviet people who endured great losses in the Second World War are, in my opinion, genuinely devoted to international peace,” he said. A joint communique issued in Moscow last night said the two countries believed it was of great current importance “to prevent proliferation of nuclear weapons in any form, and to establish nuclear-free zones in various areas of the world.” It announced that the Soviet leaders, Mr Leonid Brezhnev and Mr Alexei Kosygin were to visit Pakistan at a mutually convenient time.