Updated at 10.30 pm
NEW DELHI: Foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee is scheduled to visit Islamabad in January to invite Pakistan's leaders for the SAARC summit to be hosted by India next year.
The minister will visit Pakistan on January 13, and will have full-length bilateral discussions with Pakistan's foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri. Mukherjee's visit to Pakistan, at a time when the peace process between the two nations nation have just begun, is harbinger of good news for both countries. The talks were called off after the Mumbai blasts and India pointing fingers at Pakistan.
Mukherjee, in his new role as the foreign minister hosted a luncheon on Monday for his Pakistan counterpart. Kasuri was here to attend the marriage of friend Mani Shankar Aiyer's daughter. This was the first meeting between the two foreign ministers and peaceniks are hoping the personal chemistry between the two went well. Thought Kasuri is on a private visit, relations with Pakistan have improved considerably for Pranab Mukherjee to host a luncheon in his honour. The two also held one-to-one meeting before lunch.
After the 90-minute meeting, Mukherjee said "substantive talks" will be held when he visits Islamabad. Kasuri said Mukherjee and he realized the importance of building trust between the two nations.
"Both of us agreed that Indo-Pak relations are very important,'' Kasuri said . He said he had developed a personal equation with both former minister Natwar Singh and the NDA government's foreign minister Yashwant Sinha. "I am looking forward to developing similar trust with him (Mukherjee)," Kasuri said.
Meanwhile, Pakistan's high commissioner Aziz Ahmed Khan called on President Abdul Kalam to bid him good bye. He is leaving New Delhi on November 30 and will be replaced by Pakistan's current ambassador to Canada Shahid Malik. He had served in India in the eighties.
