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Rediff.com  » News » PM-Musharraf meeting could be 'very productive'

PM-Musharraf meeting could be 'very productive'

Source: PTI
September 13, 2005 02:14 IST
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Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has accepted the invitation for a dinner meeting to be hosted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on September 14 on the sidelines the UN General Assembly meeting.

"The dinner will be preceded by a meeting at which the two leaders will review the progress in the Composite Dialogue process," Foreign office spokesman Naeem Khan said.

On his arrival in New York, Musharraf told the media that his meeting with Dr Singh is of great importance.

"I want to move forward on the key issue of Kashmir," he said.

Musharraf will also address the UNGA session on the September 14 and meet a number of world leaders, including US President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

In his address to the UN, he would reflect Pakistan's perspective on the issues before the UN summit, including reform proposals aimed at enhancing international security, development and human rights and strengthening the world body to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

To a question, Khan said there is no schedule meeting of President Musharraf with Israeli leaders on the sidelines of the UN session.

Speculation is rife following the recent first-ever meeting between Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid M Kasuri and Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom at Istanbul.

The September 14 meeting dinner meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pervez Musharraf in New York could result in very 'productive agreements' like pulling back of Indian and Pakistani troops from the world's highest battleground Siachen glacier to the pre-1974 positions, Pakistan's Ambassador to Washington Jehangir Karamat said.

Karamat, who is the former Chief of Army, said as a result of the 'very productive meeting' Singh had with the moderate faction of the Hurriyat, the two leaders were likely to agree to pull back the troops.

He said looking at the pace of composite dialogue, it is expected that some tangible progress will be made on Siachen issue.

"The fact that the Indian prime minister has held a very important meeting with Hurriyat leaders, gives us a lot of confidence to expect he will announce withdrawal of troops from urban centres of Jammu and Kashmir."

There are possibilities of two announcements after dinner meeting between Musharraf and Singh, he said in an interview to Pakistan Observer in Washington.

He said New York Summit is very important as it is taking place in the wake of just concluded second round of composite dialogue between India and Pakistian and positive review by two Foreign Secretaries at their meeting in Islamabad on September 1.
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