NEW DELHI, July 30: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraf have discussed their plan to meet in New York in September, according to the Indian version of their conversation on Friday. The prime minister’s spokesman said the 10-minute conversation, which was mainly about the havoc wrought by rains in Mumbai, was cordial and the issue of the New York meeting was discussed.
By implication, the Indian leader also seems to have politely turned down a recent suggestion by Gen Musharraf that Dr Singh might consider visiting Islamabad before their meeting in New York where the two would address the UN General Assembly. But now the New York plan also implies a meeting between senior Indian and Pakistani officials to prepare the agenda and the logistics for the important summit.
To begin with, Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran will be in Islamabad on August 16 for a two-day meeting of his Saarc counterparts happening there in the next two days. But the ball may be set rolling even earlier when Pakistan foreign ministry’s new pointman for India, Mr Ibne Abbas, arrives here on Thursday for nuclear and conventional CBM talks.
Pakistan has suggested end of August or early September for a meeting of the foreign ministers, Messrs Khurshid Kasuri and Kunwar Natwar Singh, to review the current status of their composite dialogue.
The Indian side was to give the dates for this meeting.
Mr Kasuri may be in Delhi by late August or early September, ostensibly to stitch up the composite dialogue process, but now also to probe the contours of the New York agenda.
Dr Singh and Gen Musharraf met first on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session.
