Second, as to the future aid programme to Pakistan, will the right hon. Gentleman confirm that, at the forthcoming meeting of the Pakistan aid consortium, against the background of the extremely serious foreign exchange and economic Crisis in Pakistan, the Government will, as they have said, regard a peaceful political settlement as essential for any resumed or future aid programme?

He will recognise, as the House will recognise, that whatever is done about further aid to Pakistan is done or is not done against a background of a serious and even further deteriorating economic Crisis in Pakistan.

It seems to me that the idea that one can look only at development considerations and ignore politics is inaccurate, and the Pakistan Crisis has brought us back to the reality of this position.

As the gracious Speech reminds us, in two weeks the Commonwealth Heads of Government will be meeting in Kampala and they will need to formulate a collective response to the Crisis in Pakistan, which, as the noble Baroness, Lady Symons, said, is a source of huge anxiety worldwide.

One of the lessons that we must draw from the Pakistan Crisis is that we have put too many of our eggs in the basket of just one leader, General Musharraf; we have not sufficiently recognised the need to keep very close to the public in Pakistan and to support them in every way.

The state of emergency and the Crisis in Pakistan, referred to by a number of noble Lords, is extremely worrying.

The Crisis in Pakistan raises many of the central questions facing UK foreign policy.