No officials talks likely during Pak PM's Ajmer visit

The government on Wednesday indicated that there will be no official talks with Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Prevez Ashraf during his upcoming visit as he will travel directly to Ajmer. External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said that he had no knowledge of Ashraf holding talks with Indian leaders during his visit.

"Not to my knowledge. He is only coming to offer prayers at Ajmer. He will reach Ajmer directly," he told reporters outside Parliament house. He was asked whether the Pakistan prime minister would hold talks with Indian leaders.

"He will possibly be received by the (Rajasthan) Governor (Margaret Alva). There is no further programme and I am not aware of any programme," Khurshid said.

Ashraf will visit India on Saturday to offer prayers at the Sufi shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer.       This is likely to be Ashraf's last foreign visit before the term of his government ends on March 16.

President Asif Ali Zardari made a day-long visit to India in April last year to pray at the shrine in Ajmer. In reply to a poser on Bangladesh nationalist Party leader Khaleda Zia canceling her appointment with President Pranab Mukherjee during his visit to Dhaka, Khurshid said the development was ‘disappointing’ but the opposition's preoccupation with the political developments in Bangladesh may have been the ‘reason and the cause’ for the decision.

"We had a very good visit.... We are continuing to build on our relationship with Bangladesh. Internal politics of any country and the dynamics of internal politics should not stand in the way of allowing our relationships to grow and fulfill," he said.