ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has not ruled out President Pervez Musharraf attending the New Delhi SAARC summit in April.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, in an interview on Monday, hinted that the matter of who would represent Pakistan at the summit was still open, though he refused to be drawn into a discussion.

"In our case, President and Prime Minister either of them can attend. That has been our practice and they have been doing so in the past. Whatever I said stands where it is and I am not going to draw any conclusions," he said.

When External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee was here last month, he delivered an invitation for the summit to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

Official sources said that when he called on Gen. Musharraf, Mr. Mukherjee conveyed that India would be pleased if he could attend the summit.

The President did not rule it out altogether, said the sources. But it would depend a lot on how the peace process developed in the coming months.

Both Gen. Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hold the view that high expectations would be attached to their meeting, and therefore they must have something "substantive" to announce.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail