NEW DELHI, Aug 21: Pakistan is not against a meeting between President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on the sidelines of a UN General Assembly meeting next month, a newspaper quoted Pakistan’s high commissioner as saying.

“We are not shy of a meeting,” High Commissioner Aziz Ahmed Khan said in an interview with the Hindu newspaper published on Thursday.

“Of course, there should be a mutual desire to have that meeting,” said the envoy, who took up his post in July following a thaw in relations between the two nuclear-ready neighbours.

India has not immediately reacted to Khan’s statement, but since Vajpayee’s olive branch on April 18, New Delhi has been at pains to stress much groundwork needs to be done before bilateral meetings can be held.

Khan said Pakistan was ready to discuss Indian concerns about the freedom movement it claims Islamabad is backing in Kashmir, but as part of a “composite dialogue” process agreed in 1997 which would also include subjects such as trade and the future of Kashmir.—AFP