India invites Shaukat Aziz for SAARC Summit

ISLAMABAD: With Pakistan insisting that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should visit the country before President Pervez Musharraf travels to India, New Delhi on Saturday invited premier Shaukat Aziz to the SAARC Summit to be hosted by it in April.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who arrived here on a two-day visit, handed over an invitation from Singh to Aziz to attend the summit of the eight-nation regional grouping during April 3-4.

Mukherjee had in November said he would travel to Islamabad to extend the invitation to Musharraf.

However, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri indicated on Thursday that Musharraf might not go to New Delhi as Pakistan wanted Singh to visit Islamabad first.

Kasuri said Musharraf had visited India in 2005 and it was Singh's turn to make a reciprocal visit.

The decision to invite Aziz for the Summit appears to have been taken at the last minute by India.