Islamabad: Pakistan on July 26 suggested resumption of talks with India at the Foreign Secretary level, followed by political negotiations and said that Premier Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali was willing to meet his Indian counterpart Atal Behari Vajpayee on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York in September.

Dismissing India's suggestion for starting talks at a relatively lower level, Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri said such an exercise would merely be wastage of time and to start with the negotiation should take place at the Foreign Secretary level.

This should be followed by political level talks, Kasuri said, adding that Pakistan desired that a purposeful dialogue with India start at the earliest.

He said Prime Minister Jamali is ready to meet Vajpayee during the UN meeting in September.

"If our Prime Minister is willing to go to Delhi, then he would not be having any objection for meeting Prime Minister Vajpayee in New York," Kasuri told reporters in Karachi.

Arguing that resolution of any issue and initiation of dialogue requires meeting, he said Prime Minister Jamali had even expressed his willingness to go to Delhi for talks.

PTI