ISLAMABAD, Sept 13: President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh are all set to hold talks on Friday on the margins of the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Havana, where the two South Asian leaders would be leading their delegations.

The meeting will take place before noon (Cuban time), informed diplomatic sources told Dawn on Wednesday.

This will be the first top political-level contact between the two countries since the July 11 Mumbai blasts which put Pakistan-India relations in high strain and resulted in the postponement of foreign secretaries level talks by India.

Also, this will be the first high-level contact after the tit-for-tat expulsion of diplomats by the two countries on Aug 5 that again cast a dark shadow on bilateral ties with Delhi warning that the incident could undermine relations with Pakistan.

The Musharraf-Singh meeting is seen as crucial at this juncture as fate of the stalled peace dialogue hinges on it. Amid cautious optimism about the outcome of the talks, there are predictions of some forward movement.

No major breakthrough is expected to occur at the Havana meeting but it would give the green light for resumption of the stalled peace process, informed sources told Dawn.

While the Indian Prime Minister has made it clear that his thrust would be on the terrorism issue, sources close to the government say President Musharraf would underscore the need for a sustained dialogue and ending the blame game.

“President will impress upon the Indian Prime Minister that terrorism is as much a concern for Pakistan as it is for India and both countries need to revive the dialogue process,” a senior government official said, adding that the need for a result-oriented dialogue on Kashmir would also be emphasised.

Apparently, India has for the first time given some written proposals on the settlement of the Kashmir issue through the back-channel and they are expected to figure in the discussions.

In May the Foreign Office spokesperson had also confirmed that Islamabad had received some proposals from New Delhi.

According to diplomatic sources if all goes well a joint statement is likely to be issued after Musharraf-Singh talks in Havana, signalling the revival of the peace dialogue.