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| Musharraf not to attend SAARC Summit, invite for Shaukat Aziz | | | ISLAMABAD, JAN 13
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf today sprang a surprise on India by deciding not to attend the SAARC Summit in New Delhi in April because he would want Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit Islamabad first.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee arrived here on a two-day visit with the declared objective of inviting Musharraf for the April 3-4 summit, but instead extended the invitation to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
Mukherjee had in November said he would travel to Islamabad to extend the invitation to Musharraf.
But Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri on Thursday had told PTI, "President of Pakistan has already visited India in 2005. It is the turn of the Prime Minister to visit Pakistan. It will be considered more appropriate for the President (Musharraf) to visit India after the Prime Minister paid a return visit."
Musharraf had also not attended the last SAARC Summit in Dhaka in November 2005, at which Pakistan was represented by Aziz. |
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