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Terror to dominate Singh-Musharraf talks
K J M Varma in Islamabad
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September 01, 2006 23:15 IST

India's concerns on cross-border terrorism and all other aspects of Indo-Pak ties may dominate talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images] and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf [Images] on the sidelines of Non-Aligned Movement summit to be held in the Cuban capital of Havana in October.

Officials of India and Pakistan have firmed up an understanding for a meeting between the two leaders.

The meeting will take place and both the leaders will have a frank and candid discussion on host of issues, specially, on India's increasing concerns over the continued existence of infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan, after Mumbai bomb blasts, Indian officials in Islamabad said.

A formal understanding about the meeting has been reached after the Indian High Commissioner and Foreign Secretary designate Shivshankar Menon, who has returned from New Delhi on Thursday, held talks with top officials of Musharraf's administration.

An Indian delegation comprising former diplomats and journalists headed by former Foreign Secretary M K Rasgotra is here to hold talks with their counterparts to discuss the overall course of the peace process and the intricate issues like the proposals and counter proposals exchanged between the two countries to resolve Kashmir issue.

Pakistan is yet to respond to India's counter proposals that were forwarded in the form of a white paper in response to Musharraf's recommendations for withdrawal of troops, self-rule and joint management.

Indian officials said India's concerns on cross-border terrorism and its firm belief regarding continuation of the remnants of its infrastructure would dominate the Manmohan-Musharraf meet.

The meeting is not simply aimed at reviving the composite dialogue process, it is about the implementation of the commitments given by the Pakistan President to not to let Pakistan's territory to be used for terrorist acts against India, they said.

Referring to the recent detention of founder of Lashkar-e-Tayiba leader and reported crackdown on Jaish-e-Muhmmad militants purportedly after revelation of their involvement in the plot to blow up US bound planes, they said India acknowledges certain action from Pakistan like freezing the funds of militant groups and curtailing their activities.

But, at the same time, coordinated attacks like the Mumbai blasts with cross border links cast a shadow on the progress of the process, they said.

On Pakistan's concerns over the break in the dialogue process after the Mumbai blasts, they said only the foreign secretary-level talks to review the third round of the Composite Dialogue process was postponed.

The Manmohan-Musharraf meeting was likely to discuss all aspects of relations and expected to provide a direction to efforts to normalise ties, they said.

India was also expected to shortly name Menon's successor who could take over as high commissioner early next month.

Menon, would accompany the prime minister to Havana and formally relinquish his assignment in Islamabad by the end of the month before returning to New Delhi to take over as foreign secretary.


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