ISLAMABAD The top US diplomat for South Asia will visit Pakistan this week amid simmering tensions between Islamabad and India in the wake of the deadly Mumbai attacks, Pakistan's foreign minister said Sunday.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi told a press conference broadcast live from Multan that he would meet US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Richard Boucher on Monday.
'Richard Boucher is visiting Pakistan. I have a meeting set with him on Monday,' Qureshi said, without disclosing details about the agenda for the meeting.
'He deals with South Asian affairs and he routinely visits Pakistan.'
The US embassy in Islamabad declined to comment.
Indian media reported that Boucher was also due in New Delhi, for talks likely to focus on tensions between India and Pakistan, and the ongoing investigation into the attacks on Mumbai, which left 172 people dead including the attackers.
Indian foreign ministry officials contacted by AFP were not immediately available for comment, and the US embassy in New Delhi would only say that Boucher's trip was not yet confirmed.
A number of US officials have visited both Pakistan and India, including US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her deputy John Negroponte, following the attacks in a bid to defuse tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals.
Beyond Pakistan's relations with India, Qureshi and Boucher could also discuss suspected US missile strikes on Pakistani territory along the border with Afghanistan, a zone where Taliban and al Qaeda militants are active.
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