Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando will take advantage of a four-day official visit to Islamabad beginning today (14) to deliver a message from India’s new Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha to his Pakistan counterpart Inam Ul Haq, official sources said yesterday.

During last Friday’s talks between the two foreign ministers at the Taj Samudra Hotel in Colombo, Sinha discussed the situation in Kashmir expressing the view that incidents of cross-border terrorism have been reduced. But it would not be possible to improve relations between the two countries as long as terrorist camps are allowed on the Pakistani soil.

Sinha asked Fernando to convey India’s concerns to the Pakistani leadership when he was told of the scheduled visit. During the visit Fernando is scheduled to meet with Pakistani President General Pervez Musharaf. He will also visit Khyber Pass on the Pakistan-Afghan border.

The sources said that Sinha has expressed the belief that there is no likelihood of normalisation of their relations as long as Pakistan allows terrorist bases from where regular raids are mounted on Indian targets.

General Musharaf is scheduled to visit Colombo in about two weeks time as part of a Pakistani initiative to keep the region informed of the situation in Kashmir. The two-nuclear capable SAARC countries came close to war two months ago following a series of high-profile attacks on Indian targets.

India has ruled out third-party mediation while Pakistan has called for it.

A gamut of issues including the peace process and all related issues were discussed, the sources said, adding that there was no change in India’s stance that LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran wanted in connection with the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi should be extradited. (SF)