President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday formally invited Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to visit Pakistan, saying that it will provide an opportunity to the two leaderships to take stock of bilateral relations. A handout quoted president's spokesperson Senator Farhatullah Babar as saying that the invitation was extended through a letter sent to the Indian Prime Minister through Pakistan's High Commission in New Delhi.
In his letter, the President also suggested to the Indian Prime Minister to visit his ancestral hometown on the occasion of birthday anniversary celebration of Baba Guru Nanak Sahib. This, the letter said, would not only be "well received by the Pakistani nation, but also reinforce our mutual desire to promote inter-faith and inter-religious harmony".
The President recalled his meeting with the Indian Prime Minister in New Delhi during his visit to Ajmer Sharif and expressed satisfaction over the forward movement of dialogue process and the taking place of several important engagements between the two countries.
Expressing the hope that the intensity and engagements would help promote "our ties in the right direction", the President e said that it would also "help in realising our shared dream of a peaceful and prosperous South Asia". The President said that it was important to sustain the process and make it more productive and result-oriented.
"We are happy to see that the dialogue process between our two countries is moving forward. Recently, several important engagements between our two sides have taken place. We are confident that the intensity and the range of these engagements will help promote our ties in the right direction and will also help in realizing our share dream of a peaceful and prosperous South Asia. It is important to sustain this process and make it more productive and result oriented. Our invitation for you to visit Pakistan is outstanding. Your visit will provide us an opportunity to take stock of our bilateral relations," President Zardari said. The President said: "We could use that occasion to arrange a visit to your ancestral home town."
If the visit were to coincide with the birthday celebrations of Baba Guru Nanak Sahib that would not only be well received by the Pakistani nation, but also reinforce our mutual desire to promote inter-faith and inter-religious harmony, he concluded.-PR