Manmohan Singh to visit Pakistan in couple of months; Indian officials

NEW DELHI : Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will visit Pakistan in the next couple of months to hold talks with his Pakistani counter-part Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani to further normalise relations between both the neighbouring countries.
“Hindustan Times” quoting officials here said no dates had been fixed, but the visit could take place in the next couple of months. Singh has a long-pending invitation to visit Pakistan .
This will be the first visit by any Indian Prime Minister during the last four years. The last visit took place when BJP leader Atal Behari Vajpayee, the then Prime Minister visited Islamabad in January 2004 for the Saarc Summit.
The political situation in Pakistan throughout 2007 prevented the Prime Minister to travel to Islamabad. Now, with the installation of new elected government, the hurdles to visiting Pakistan have been removed, the officials said.
The Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon will soon visit Islamabad for having first contact with the newly elected government in Pakistan to review fourth round of Composite Dialogue.
A couple of days ago, Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee telephoned his Pakistani counter-part Shah Mehmood Qureshi and agreed to resume Composite Dialogue at the earliest. He will also visit Islamabad soon.
The expectations from Indian Prime Minister’s visit were high. An agreement on settling the Sir Creek boundary has become possible, the daily added.