President Pervez Musharraf is going to ask Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to withdraw troops from pre-designated areas in occupied Kashmir when he meets the latter on Wednesday evening.
“The president has already discussed this proposal with President Bush,” said Ambassador Jehangir Karamat while briefing journalists.
At his meeting with US President George Bush on Tuesday evening, Gen Musharraf also sought US help for achieving an overall reduction of Indian troops in occupied Kashmir, said the envoy.
Such a reduction would contribute to a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute and would boost the current peace process, he said.
President Musharraf made the proposal during a 30-minute, one-to-one meeting with President Bush.

Musharraf is also scheduled to meet Iranian President Mahmud Ahmedinejad, which is considered as important as his meetings with the US and Indian leaders.

In his meeting with Bush, President Musharraf pointed out that if there were no Indian reciprocity on the issue of Kashmir, all other confidence-building measures would ‘lose’ their impact.

Although US officials have offered no comments on the meeting, it was obvious that the Americans were seriously concerned about security in Afghanistan during the forthcoming elections.
PHOTO CAPTION

General Pervez Musharraf, President of Pakistan, addresses the 2005 World Summit at the 60th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. (AFP)