NEW DELHI, Aug 17: The dialogue between the Pakistani and Indian foreign ministers, when they meet here on Sept 5-6, would set the tone for a proposed meeting between President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New York, sources said on Tuesday.
All eyes would be riveted to the review of the composite dialogue by foreign ministers Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri and Natwar Singh, who are expected to particularly look into any progress that might have been made on the Kashmir issue.
Foreign secretaries Riaz Khokhar and Shyam Saran will hold talks a day before the ministerial review. The Indian prime minister has promised to pursue the dialogue with a firm resolve and sincerity but some elements in Srinagar see little hope of a breakthrough on the Kashmir dispute.
"We cannot trust any Indian commitment until and unless India recognises the disputed nature of Jammu and Kashmir in unambiguous terms," Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani said after Dr Singh's Independence Day address.
"We have to see that India withdraws its forces to the barracks, repeals the Disturbed Areas Act, releases all detainees unconditionally, revokes the 1994 parliament resolution declaring Jammu and Kashmir an integral part of India, ends repressions and allows peaceful struggle," he said.
Some smaller, 'more manageable', elements from the concerns voiced by Mr Geelani are believed to be under consideration in the bilateral dialogue. Dr Singh is scheduled to meet United States President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin, in all likelihood before his talks with Gen Musharraf. His address at the United Nations General Assembly is scheduled on Sept 23.
