Setting the stage for the meeting between PM Manmohan Singh and President Pervez Musharraf in New York on September 14, India and Pakistan today announced a slew of measures to promote people-to-people contact, including a truck service for trade on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad route. The two countries also outlined the roadmap for the third round of the composite dialogue process to be launched in January next year in New Delhi with a meeting of their foreign secretaries. At the end of his two-day talks with Pakistani counterpart Riaz Mohammad Khan here, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said that he has conveyed to Musharraf during a ‘‘courtesy call’’ that Manmohan Singh ‘‘greatly looks forward’’ to his New York meeting. ‘‘I return confident that the composite dialogue is proceeding in a satisfactory manner and has proved to be a very useful instrument in bridging differences between the two countries,’’ he said. A four-page joint statement issued today said that the foreign secretaries would meet in January next year to launch the next round of composite dialogue when they will discuss the J-K situation. Dialogue on the other six subjects—Siachen, Wullar barrage/Tulbul navigation project, Sir Creek, terrorism and drug trafficking, economic and commercial cooperation and promotion of friendly exchanges in various fields would be held between January and July 2006, it said. The two sides also commended the finalisation of the agreement on the pre-notification of ballistic missiles tests, which would be signed during the meeting of External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid M Kasuri here on October 3-4. Saran said Musharraf recalled his forward-looking and constructive dialogue with the PM in New Delhi this April. On Sarabjit Singh, who is facing the gallows for his alleged involvement in bomb blasts in Lahore and Multan in 1990, Saran said he had not discussed the issue with Musharraf. —PTI Hurriyat team SRINAGAR: The Hurriyat Conference on Friday announced a five-member team for talks with the Prime Minister. To be led by its Chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, other members of the team are Abdul Gani Bhatt, Maulavi Maulana Abbas Ansari, Bilal Gani Lone and Fazal Haq Qureshi. —ENS
