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Pakistan Extends Formal Invitations to Indian Leaders
Pakistan extended formal invitations on Friday, July 27, to Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh to visit Islamabad, official sources in New Delhi confirmed.
Pakistan High Commissioner to India Ashraf Jehangir Qazi met Indian Foreign Secretary Chokila Iyer and hand over the invitation from Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to Vajpayee Friday afternoon.
The sources said that an invitation to Jaswant Singh by his Pakistan counterpart Abdul Sattar was delivered a few days ago.
However, dates for both of the visits are yet to be set.
Musharraf, during his landmark meeting with Vajpayee earlier this month, had orally invited the latter to visit Islamabad which the prime minister accepted.
Vajpayee said here Tuesday that New Delhi would continue its bilateral engagement with Pakistan though leaders of the two neighbors had failed to reach an agreement during the summit, the first between Vajpayee and Musharraf since they came to power almost at the same time in October 1999.
Denying reports that his meeting with Musharraf had been a failure, Vajpayee told both houses of the Indian parliament that " though we could not conclude a joint document in Agra, we did achieve a degree of understanding."
On Musharraf's invitation to Pakistan, however, Vajpayee gave no indication on when his trip will take place.
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