The forthcoming summit between prime minister Vajpayee and Pakistan militaryruler General Musharraf is being formatted in a way that could "leave a lotof elbow room" for them to "hit it off" at personal level,according to official sources in Islamabad.
"This summit unlike others is different. There are no bottomlinepreparations to the run up for it. The dialogue is starting at the top. Soeverything depends on how the two hit it off with each other," they said.
Vajpayee-Musharraf meeting is not going to be loaded with structured agendathough Kashmir is expected to figure prominently during the talks, they said.
Though the dates for Musharraf's visit are yet to be finalised, he isexpected to be in India for two or two-and-half days, the sources said.
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Pakistan foreign ministry spokesman yesterday said both sides were waitingfor a detailed report on the progress of recovery of Vajpayee from knee surgeryto finalise the dates for Musharraf's visit.
However, there was consensus on both sides that the summit could take placein the first or second week of July, depending on the pace of progress in Vajpayee'srecovery, they said.
Besides holding talks with Vajpayee, Musharraf is also expected to meetexternal affairs minister Jaswant Singh, home minister L.K.Advani and leader ofopposition Sonia Gandhi.
Musharraf is also likely to meet army chief general S.Padmanabhan as hecontinues to be Pakistan's army chief.
Musharraf had himself in a recent interview expressed his desire to visit hisancestral house in old Delhi, where he was born and grew up for four years, tillhis family migrated to Pakistan after partition.
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Pakistan media had earlier reported that Begum Musharraf also wanted to visitLucknow to see her relatives and friends.
'Indo-Iran Gas Pipeline May Figure In Talks With Musharraf'
Possibility of constructing a gas pipeline from South Pars gasfield in Iranto India across Pakistan may figure during the forthcoming Musharraf visit,according to petroleum minister Ram Naik.
"Constructing an onshore gas pipeline from Iran through Pakistan mayfigure in talks with Gen Musharraf. However, no formal agenda has beenset," Naik told reporters here.
India has been exploring various options of bringing gas from Iran includingdeep sea pipeline, onshore pipeline and shipping it in liquefied natural gas (LNG)form, he said.
"We are evaluating all the options. Feasibility study for both onshoreand offshore pipeline from Iran to India would be conducted against the backdropof 'security versus cost' concerns," he said.
Though India initially favoured the offshore route because it was somewhatapprehensive on the continuity of gas supply if it passed onshore through Pakistan,Iran has been pressing for the onland pipeline because of the heavy investmentsinvolved in a deep water pipeline.
Pakistan is said to be supporting the route onshore as it is keen tocapitalise on the transit fee it would get.
Islamabad would earn about 580 million dollar transit fee from this 2,670-kmlong and 48-inch diameter, 3.2 billion dollar gas conduit, petroleum ministrysources said.
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The pipeline would have a capacity to supply two billion cubic feet of gasper day which is equivalent of 14 million tonnes of LNG annually.
