January 05, 2007	Friday	Zilhaj 14, 1427

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

NEW DELHI, Jan 4: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sounded out senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) about the discussions going on at various levels with Pakistan on the Kashmir dispute ahead of the Indian foreign minister’s visit to Islamabad later this month.

Among those he invited for the luncheon meeting were former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his three top BJP aides -- former home minister Lal Kishan Advani, former defence minister Jaswant Singh, and former national security adivsor Brajesh Mishra.

Mr Advani has gone on record as opposing what he described as plans for a major sell-out on Kashmir, but this may not necessarily be the view of the other three.

Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee is scheduled to visit Islamabad on Jan 13.

An official statement about Tuesday’s curious luncheon hosted by the prime minister for the BJP leaders merely named the invitees but also added that Mr Mukherjee “briefed them on the situation in India’s neighbourhood and India’s relations with Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.” Analysts said it would be a major political statement if the India-US nuclear deal was really not discussed.

Apart from Mr Mukherjee, the prime minister was assisted by Foreign Secretary Shivshanker Menon and National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan. The prime minister’s initiative follows a pleasant surprise to Mr Vajpayee on Dec 25 when Dr Singh went to his house to greet him on his 83rd birthday.

There are reports that top aides of the two countries recently met in Lahore to discuss President Gen Musharraf’s proposals on a four-step interim solution to the Kashmir tangle. There have been talks also about ways to withdraw troops from the Siachen Glacier.

Prime Minister Singh has indirectly welcomed some of the proposals and these could form the basis for his visit to Pakistan some time before the Saarc summit, the sources said.