South Asian Media,
Monday, November 27,2006

NEW DELHI: Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said here on Sunday that Islamabad was eagerly awaiting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit as it would provide an opportunity for New Delhi and Islamabad to work to resolve issues such as Kashmir, Siachen and terrorism.

Mr. Kasuri, who met Bharatiya Janata Party leader and the former External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, said: "We are eagerly awaiting the Prime Minister's visit. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has already visited New Delhi, and now it is Dr. Singh's turn to visit Pakistan. Whenever there is a high-profile visit, the bureaucracy works hard to make it a success."

"All aspects of all issues, like Kashmir, Siachen or the anti-terror mechanism, will come up for discussion, and there will be an earnest effort to find a solution to all these."

Private visit

Stressing that he always promoted India-Pakistan relations, he said, "I also know that the nature of our relations is such that it would require bipartisan support, both in Pakistan and India. ... So it has been my endeavour to interact with all parties."

Mr. Kasuri recalled that it was during the tenure of the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, that India and Pakistan embarked on the peace process.

He told Mr. Sinha there was a need to maintain the "momentum of the peace process regardless of whether one is in power or in the Opposition."

Mr. Kasuri is scheduled to meet External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday.

Meets Sarabjit's family

PTI reports:

The family members of Sarabjit Singh, who is on death row in Pakistan, met Mr. Kasuri on Sunday, and pleaded for his release.

Sarabjit's sister Dalbir Kaur and his daughters Swapandeep Kaur and Poonam Kaur met Mr. Kasuri at a hotel here.

They cited the recent release from a Pakistan jail of British national Mirza Tahir Hussain, who was sentenced to death in connection with the murder of a taxi driver in 1998. "We requested the Minister that if Tahir could be set free, so could my brother," Ms. Dalbir said.

Sarabjit faces execution for "spying and for being involved in a series of bomb blasts" in Lahore in 1990.

His family says he was a victim of mistaken identity.

"The Pakistan Foreign Minister told me that I should write to the Pakistani High Commission about whatever I have to say, and that it would be forwarded to President Pervez Musharraf," Ms. Dalbir said, adding: "I will do that."

She also sought permission to visit her brother in jail.