Federal Minister for Tourism, Niloufer Bakhtiar, was quoted by The News as saying that the government was considering increasing the duration of stay of Indian tourists from five to 15 days and introducing a tourist section in the passports for the purpose.
Mukherjee, who is arriving in Islamabad on Saturday on his first-ever visit to Pakistan since taking over as External Affairs Minister, primarily to extend an invitation to President Pervez Musharraf to attend the 14th SAARC Summit at New Delhi in April, will have talks with his counterpart Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri. He will also meet Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
Bakhtiar said the extended time for Indian tourists would provide them an opportunity to visit other spots besides the places they want to go to.
The talks between the Foreign Ministers will set the agenda for the fourth round of the Composite Dialogue Process besides reviewing the third round of the CDP.
Mukherjee will call on President Musharraf immediately on reaching Islamabad in the afternoon and then meet Aziz. Prime Minister Kasuri will host a dinner for the visiting dignitary.
On January 14, Mukherjee will meet some political leaders in the morning before leaving for New Delhi.
Terrorism would be on top of India's agenda at the talks and Mukherjee would like to know the action taken by Islamabad to dismantle the terror infrastrcuture.
The two countries are also expected to discuss the format of the recently constituted joint anti-terror mechanism under an agreement reached between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Gen Musharraf on the margins of the NAM summit at Havana in September last year. India had subsequently provided information on terrorists based in Pakistan who were responsible for bomb blasts across the country, including the July 11, 2006, Mumbai blasts.
At the same time, India expected Pakistan to raise in ''considerable detail'' the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.
''It is open to either side to raise any issue,'' the sources said, adding that there were obviously differences in the basic approach of the two countries towards the problems as India viewed terrorism as the main issue, the sources said.
Officials, however, ruled out the possibility of India accepting the demand for joint management or patrolling of the border, saying joint management could be possible only on subjects like tourism, environment and so on.
The other issues that are expected to come at the talks between the two foreign ministers were Sir Creek, which was inching towards a solution, and Siachen. The joint survey of Sir Creek would begin on January 15 and was expected to be completed by the end of March. On Siachen, there were ''indications'' from Pakistan that it should be possible to authenticate the present positions.
The two leaders would also discuss the proposed visit of Dr Singh to Pakistan, the sources said.
The other issues that would figure at the talks were the proposed opening of consultates by the two countries -- in Mumbai and Karachi -- and Pakistan's implementation of the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement.
According to India, Pakistan's refusal to implement SAFTA would undermine SAARC and Islamabad's own credibility.
India would like Pakistan to open land routes -- Atari and Wagah border posts and through the Kokrapar-Munnabao railway line -- for movement of bulk commodities.
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