Singh-Zardari meet: No structured agenda, focus on bilateral ties

New Delhi, Apr 7 (PTI) Focus will be on bilateral issues when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has a one-on-one meeting with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, who is making a three-hour stopover here tomorrow before flying to Ajmer in northwest Indian state of Rajasthan to pay obeisance at the shrine of the medieval Muslim Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti. No aides will be present from either side at the meeting to be held at Singh's official Race Course Road residence followed by lunch to be attended by select guests on both sides. During his day-long trip to India, Zardari will be accompanied by his 23-year-old son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who took over the reins of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) after the death of his mother Benazir Bhutto in 2007, Interior Minister Rahman Malik, Foreign Secretary, senior officers of Presidency and media. "Though there is no structured agenda but the leaders are expected to focus on bilateral issues," official sources said. Ahead of the visit both sides had made it clear that the two leaders will talk about issues of mutual concern. "... all bilateral issues are likely to be discussed ...," India's External Affairs Minister S M Krishna has said. With a renewed pressure on Pakistan to take action against Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind of Mumbai 26/11 terrorist attack, after the US announcement of a USD 10 million bounty on the Jammat-ud-Dawa chief, the issue is likely to figure during the meeting between the two sides. Zardari had last met Singh on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Russia in 2009. PTI