Musharraf invites Indian PM to Pakistan to watch cricket and talk Kashmir by AFP

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Event:

India in Pakistan 2005/06

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DateLine: 8th January 2006

 

President Pervez Musharraf has invited Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit Pakistan to watch their national teams play cricket and for talks on their dispute over Kashmir.

 

"I invite him (Singh) right here and let me say that I invite him to watch any part of the series," Musharraf told Indian television channel CNN-IBN in an interview aired late saturday.

 

In Islamabad, the Pakistani foreign ministry said the invitation had been accepted in principle.

 

"We have already extended an invitation to the Indian premier and he has accepted it but it's still to be decided for which match Mr Singh will come," said ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam.

 

But Indian foreign ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters in New Delhi he did not have an immediate response to Musharraf's invitation.

 

Singh is likely to watch the second one-day international in Rawalpindi near Islamabad on February 11, Pakistani officials said.

 

The Indian team are on a 43-day tour of Pakistan during which they will play three Tests and five one-day internationals.

 

Musharraf added, however, that if Singh accepts his invitation to visit Pakistan but both sides do "nothing about the peace process I am afraid we are just wasting our time."

 

Singh and Musharraf jointly watched the sixth one-day international between the two sides in New Delhi in April last year. In talks on the sidelines the two leaders pledged to make a peace process begun in January 2004 "irreversible."

 

During his April visit, Musharraf had invited Singh to visit Pakistan. India's ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi was also invited to cross the border for a visit.

 

The main dispute between the two nations and the cause of two of their three wars is Kashmir, which they each hold in part but claim in full. The peace initiative has so far produced a number of largely symbolic steps, including cross-border bus services and the resumption of sporting ties, but progress has been sluggish on central issues.

 

A fresh round of talks between senior officials is scheduled to start later this month.

(Article: Copyright © 2006 AFP)