16 April 2005	Saturday	06 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

ISLAMABAD, April 15: President Gen Pervez Musharraf, scheduled to arrive in New Delhi on Saturday, will hold ‘substantive’ one-to-one talks with Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in the evening during which the two leaders will take up important bilateral issues, including Jammu and Kashmir, official sources said.

The talks will be followed by a dinner to be hosted in the president’s honour by the Indian prime minister.

Before the Musharraf-Singh meeting, Indian External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh will call on the president at his hotel.

Another round of talks between Gen Musharraf and Dr Singh will be held on Sunday morning in which their key aides will also take part. From the Pakistani side Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan, the president’s chief of staff Javed Hamid, High Commissioner Aziz Ahmed Khan and Jalil Abbas Jilani, director-general of South Asia at the foreign ministry, would attend the meeting.

Later, President Musharraf and Prime Minister Singh will watch together the last one-day cricket match of the current series between Pakistan and India at Delhi’s Ferozeshah Kotla grounds. This would provide them with another opportunity for some more ‘business’ talks.

“The two leaders are expected to discuss the entire gamut of bilateral issues between the two countries with special focus on the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir,” a foreign office spokesman said on Friday.

Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam will host lunch in honour of his Pakistani counterpart the same day. After the lunch, India’s ruling Congress party president Sonia Gandhi and opposition leader L.K. Advani will separately call on President Musharraf at the Taj Palace Hotel.

Also on the cards for the day is President Musharraf’s meeting with members of the All Pakistan Hurriyat Conference. In the evening, the Pakistani high commissioner will host dinner in honour of the president at the Pakistan House.

Before his departure from Delhi on Monday morning, Gen Musharraf will hold a breakfast meeting with the Editors Guild of India.

It is believed that apart from Kashmir, the issue of the Baglihar dam and a trilateral gas pipeline project will be major talking points. President Musharraf, it is learnt, will also raise the issue of the Kishanganga dam which is seen here as another violation of the 1960 bilateral Indus Waters Treaty.

Diplomatic sources said that President Musharraf in his meetings with the Indian leadership would emphasize the need for moving from confidence building to dispute settlement. He would remind the Indian premier of their joint pledge of exploring possible options for a peaceful, negotiated settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir issue.

This will be the second interaction between the two leaders after their meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in September 2004, and the first after the launch of the Kashmir bus service.

Prime Minister Singh has already stated that he has been looking forward to President Musharraf’s visit and signalled that they will talk about all issues, including Kashmir.

Last month, the Indian prime minister told Pakistan Muslim League president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain that he was looking forward to welcoming and renewing contact with President Musharraf.

“We can work with General Musharraf and we know he is committed to peace and resolution of all issues,” declared Dr Singh during his meeting with the visiting president of the PML.

Informed sources said that a joint statement would be issued at the end of President Musharraf’s visit.

Analysts believe that a breakthrough on the Kashmir issue is unlikely at this stage, but they do say that the Musharraf-Singh meeting will focus on finding a common ground to resolve outstanding issues and give an impetus to the ongoing peace process.

The president will start his trip with a visit to Ajmer where he will make a brief stopover on Saturday afternoon to pay his respects at the shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti (RA).