President Asif Ali Zardari will meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on April 8, when he becomes the first Pakistani head of state to visit India since 2005, Islamabad said Monday. The lunch talks are the latest sign of rivals making gradual progress towards normalising relations, quietly supported by a West keen to improve regional stability as Nato troops leave Afghanistan in 2014.
Zardari would have lunch with Singh in New Delhi and finish the one-day trip with a "private visit for prayers" at the shrine of Sufi saint Hazrat Khwaja Gharib Nawaz in Ajmer Sharif, a popular pilgrimage site. "The president has also accepted the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for lunch in New Delhi en route to Ajmer Sharif," said Zardari's spokesman Farhatullah Babar.
India's foreign ministry declined to confirm the visit. But Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said it would help build normal relations between the two neighbours and promote regional stability. "President Zardari's meeting with Prime Minister Singh will contribute towards translating the president's vision of inter-regional co-operation and harmony," he said.
G. Parthasarathy, a retired Indian diplomat and former high commissioner to Pakistan, welcomed Sunday's talks, but warned either side against getting too excited about the prospect of any breakthrough. "The very fact that the two sides will talk will improve the climate for a relationship. Of course India's core concerns on terrorism will remain, but at least they will talk," he told AFP.
Political analyst Hasan Askari said such informal meetings were a chance to "talk freely on the need to improve ties". "Both sides are favourably disposed towards improving trade and economic relations," Askari told AFP. "The major Indian interest is normalisation of trade relations towards the end of this year. Informal meetings will be supportive of that process."
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