Islamabad, September 17
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said today that his talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the NAM summit in Havana “augured” well for resolving bilateral issues, including the Kashmir problem.
General Musharraf, who arrived in New York from the Cuban capital to address the UN General Assembly session, told reporters there that his meeting with Mr Manmohan Singh last night was “successful” and “augured” well for resolving problems between India and Pakistan, including the Kashmir issue.
In his first remarks after the meeting, he said the joint statement issued after the talks was to the satisfaction of both sides. He said he would not call it a victory, but that the peace process had won, the state-run APP news agency reported.
General Musharraf said during his meeting with Mr Manmohan Singh, they did not go into the specifics of solutions of various issues currently being discussed by the two countries.
“We agreed to narrow down the divergences and strengthen convergences. The road forward is the willingness to discuss and resolve the Jammu and Kashmir dispute,” he said.
He said the talks at the Foreign Secretary-level between Pakistan and India would be held expeditiously. “We have not fixed the dates but they are going to be held very soon.”
On his invitation to Mr Manmohan Singh to visit Pakistan, General Musharraf said the Indian Prime Minister was keen to visit the country at an appropriate time.
Pakistan’s official media also hailed the joint statement issued after the Manmohan-Musharraf meeting as a win-win proposition as it addressed the concerns of both countries.
— PTI
