Islamabad, June 11
Pakistani military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf, could visit India in early July for the summit meeting with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and a firm announcement is expected this week, officials said.

According to officials and media reports, his tentative itinerary includes offering Friday prayers at Jama Masjid in the Capital and a visit to the Sufi shrine at Ajmer in Rajasthan.

The Foreign Office official, commenting on a report in the Urdu language daily Nawa-e-Waqt that the visit had been tentatively scheduled for July 6-11, said discussions on the dates for the summit were still under final stages and an official announcement was expected by June 15.

“No dates have been given by either side...(but) it may be clear by Friday (June 15),” the official said. Earlier reports had suggested that the summit was not likely before the third week of July.

But with Mr Vajpayee recovering fast from his knee operation last week, the two sides have been in contact and are discussing the first or second week of July as a possible time for the meeting, the official said.

He said a team of Pakistani officials would visit New Delhi in the next few days to discuss the logistics of the visit with their Indian counterparts. Among other arrangements, the team would discuss a proposal for General Musharraf to offer Friday prayers at the Jama Masjid. There is also a proposal from the Pakistani side for General Musharraf to visit the dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti at Ajmer, but no decision had been made.

Press reports said Islamabad and New Delhi had already started talks on the “non-core issues” in preparation for the summit and at least two, the visa regime and the problem of fishermen straying into each other’s waters, had been identified.

The report, quoting diplomatic sources, said the two issues would be in addition to eight other subjects identified for discussions by the two countries for the “composite dialogue process” in 1998 but had been stalled since.

Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Vijay Nambiar paid a courtesy call on Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider last week. During the meeting matters pertaining to the visa regime and fishing incidents came up. Mr Haider and Mr Nambiar discussed steps to relax the issue of visas and the possibility of reopening the two countries’ respective consulates in Karachi and Mumbai for the purpose.