NEW DELHI, March 23: India is looking at the forthcoming meeting of President Gen Pervez Musharraf with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the president’s cricket visit here in mid- April as an “occasion when two leaders sit together and talk about whatever they want to,” says India’s Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran. “We are looking forward to his visit to New Delhi as an opportunity for the two leaders to engage in talks on different matters. It is not an official summit; it is not a structured meeting and it, therefore, will have no agenda. When the leaders of two countries meet they can discuss anything,” Mr Saran told a group of visiting Pakistani journalists at his office in South Block.

India will roll out the red carpet for what the secretary described as the “very honoured guest” when Gen Musharraf arrives here on April 16 to watch the final one-day cricket match between Pakistan and India at the Feroze Shah Kotla cricket ground the next morning.

India’s top foreign office official said that details of President Musharrf’s visit and meeting with Prime Minister Singh had not been worked out so far. Indian External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh recently stated that “if President Musharraf wants to discuss any issues during his visit, India will be willing to do so.”

This will be President Musharraf’s first trip to India after the collapse of his summit meeting with former Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee in Agra in 2001, and his second meeting with Prime Minister Singh.

President Musharraf’s mother Zarin Musharraf and son Bilal are already here and have been hosted by both Mr Manmohan Singh and Mr Natwar Singh. His son also called on Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s son Rahul. The visit has been widely covered by both the print and electronic media of India.