By Manish Chand, IANS,
On board Air India One : India Monday said it would convey a pointed message on ending cross-border terrorism and ceasefire violations by Pakistan, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meets President Asif Ali Zardari in New York this week.
“We will discuss entire gamut of relationship (between India and Pakistan),” Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon told reporters on board the special aircraft carrying prime minister to New York via Frankfurt.
“These issues are part of the relationship. But the relationship is much more than that,” Menon said.
Manmohan Singh will meet Zardari at United Nations headquarters in New York Thursday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. This will be the first meeting between the two leaders since Zardari was elected Pakistan president Sep 9.
Menon said that the prime minister’s meeting with Zardari would be an occasion to give a push to the peace process between the two countries.
The meeting will also give Manmohan Singh a sense of Zardari’s position, the foreign secretary said.