ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI, 4 July — President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee would hold three rounds of talks at Agra on July 15 for resolving the core issue of Kashmir, a senior official told Arab News on Monday.
The final touches to Musharraf’s stay and his schedule were given in a meeting held here. Musharraf chaired the meeting. It was also participated by Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar, Foreign Secretary Inamul Haq, Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Muzaffar Usmani, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, and other concerned senior officials.
“There will be two rounds of summit talks tentatively scheduled for July 15 between President Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee,” said the official, who does not rule out the possibility of third summit meeting if some progress is achieved in the first two meetings.
On the inaugural day of his India visit, Indian President K.R. Narayanan will host a banquet in honor of Musharraf on July 14. Earlier on the day, Indian opposition leader and Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi, Indian Home Minister L.K. Advani and Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh will call on Musharraf.
It is precisely the reason that Pakistan Interior Minister Moinduddin Haider will also be included in the official delegation, as several issues regarding his ministry may come up for broad based discussion. The final composition of the Pakistani delegation will be decided in a day or two.
Indian Vice President K.C. Pant will also call on Musharraf, who will also attend a reception to be hosted by Jehangir Qazi on the same day, besides the Indian prime minister hosting a luncheon in honor of Musharraf.
Following this activity-packed first day schedule after his arrival in Delhi as he would be staying at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Musharraf will proceed to Agra for holding structured Pak-India summit where three rounds of talks are expected to be held between him and Vajpayee.
