PM, Zardari may meet in Delhi April 8

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Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari is likely to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi early next week, possibly Sunday April 8, when he travels to India on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer.
External affairs ministry sources in New Delhi said Sunday nothing had been finalised as of now regarding a meeting of the two leaders. In Islamabad, officials close to Mr Zardari indicated that the “private visit” could even be converted into an official one.
“The meeting has not been agreed as yet but the two sides are working on it, and there are more chances than not the meeting will take place. India is more interested in a meeting”, a Zardari aide told this newspaper.
Sources in Islamabad said Mr Zardari will first land in New Delhi, and might meet Dr Singh before proceeding to Ajmer. The two leaders had last met in 2009 on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Russia. The details of the itinerary will, however, be finalised closer to the actual date, the sources said.
“As of now, the visit is purely a religious one, but efforts are being made so that some political discussions can also take place during the day-long trip,” a senior Pakistani official said.
Mr Zardari is expected to travel to Ajmer with 12 family members. If the visit becomes an official one, the size of the Pakistani delegation accompanying him is likely to become much larger.
If a PM-President meeting does take place, it will be the second high-level India-Pakistan contact in two weeks. Dr Manmohan Singh had met Pakistan PM Yousaf Raza Gilani at the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul last week.
Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said in Islamabad that Mr Zardari had expressed a desire to visit Ajmer a long time ago, and “we were waiting for the Indian government’s response”.