Pakistani, Indian officials to meet to pave way for Singh's visit

Islamabad, Mar 8 (UNI) Indian and Pakistani officials are likely to meet in the next couple of days as part of the back channel diplomacy to pave the way for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Pakistan ahead of a SAARC summit in New Delhi.

Daily Times quoted sources as saying that Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's close aide and secretary of the National Security Council Tariq Aziz will meet his Indian counterpart in a day or two in one of the Gulf states in Dubai for this purpose.

If taken place, the meeting will precede the two-day talks between Pakistani and Indian foreign secretaries, slated for March 13-14 here.

The meeting will mark commencement of the fourth round of the composite dialogue, which the two countries had resumed in February 2004 to resolve all outstanding issues, including the Kashmir issue.

UNI