Saran briefs Musharraf on outcome of talks

A day after India and Pakistan announced a slew of measures to carry forward the peace process, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran on Friday met Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and briefed him about the outcome of the talks he had with his counterpart in Islamabad. Saran was accompanied by High Commissioner to Pakistan Shiv Shankar Menon.

Ahead of the New York meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Musharraf, Saran and Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan on Thursday reviewed the progress in the composite dialogue process and decided to carry it forward.

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They also decided to commence the third round by the end of 2005 and agreed to sign an agreement on pre-notification of ballistic missiles when foreign ministers meet Islamabad in early October.

India also proposed two additional bus routes between the two countries but firmly ruled out redrawing of boundaries or fixing "artificial deadlines" for resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir issue.

Both sides also agreed "in principle" to increase the frequency of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service and to set up a hotline between the two foreign secretaries soon.