Pakistan's NSA in India Saturday, terror tops agenda

New Delhi, Oct 10 (IANS) With a spurt in terror attacks in both countries, India and Pakistan will decide the date for the next meeting of their anti-terror mechanism during the five-day visit of Pakistani National Security Adviser Mahmud Ali Durrani to New Delhi that begins Saturday.

Durrani, who enjoys the status of a federal minister and is a key figure in the Track-II peace process between the two countries, will hold talks with his Indian counterpart M.

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K. Narayanan Monday.

They will discuss the dates for the remaining items in the fifth round of the composite dialogue that was launched by the foreign secretaries of the two countries in July, official sources told IANS.

They will also decide the dates for the special meeting of the anti-terror mechanism, as agreed between between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in New York last month, and will focus on India's suspicions about the alleged complicity of Pakistan's spy agency ISI in the July 7 bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul.

The mechanism, that was set up in 2006, is likely to meet late Oct, the source added. Terrorism will top the agenda of those talks.

Durrani's will be the first visit by a top Pakistani official after Zardari late last month reaffirmed to Manmohan Singh Islamabad's Jan 2004 pledge not to allow Pakistani territory to be used for terrorist activities against India.

During the talks, New Delhi will also raise its concerns about increasing Line of Control (LoC) ceasefire violations and cross-border infiltration.

Durrani, an old India hand and a former ambassador of Pakistan to the US, will also meet Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and discuss with him a host of bilateral issues.

He is expected to call on Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee before returning home Oct 15.

Narayanan and Durrani, a former major general in Pakistan's Army, may also discuss a likely meeting between Manmohan Singh and Zardari on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Beijing in the last week of October.