Sunday, September 11 2005 15:49 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: Asserting that the focus of his September 14 meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New York 'ought to be on Kashmir,' Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf today (Sept 11, 2005) said he expected to discuss a way forward on the issue.

"I have to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. I want to promote the cause of peace and resolution of disputes, especially the Kashmir dispute," Musharraf told the media before leaving for New York to take part in the UN General Assembly meeting.

"When we talk about dispute the basic focus ought to be on Kashmir," Musharraf said.

"I have no doubt in my mind with other issues do make progress at Secretary or Minister level but when two leaders meet they ought to discuss issues that cannot make progress at lower level," the President said.

Singh and Musharraf would meet on September 14 over a dinner hosted by the Prime Minister.

Musharraf also said during his talks with US President George W Bush, he would discuss the "cause of resolution of Palestinian and Kashmir disputes."

In his meeting with Bush, he would also discuss regional and International issues including terrorism, Afghanistan and Middle East, Musharraf said.

Musharraf said he would also address a conference of American Jewish Congress, where, he stressed, "I intend very strongly conveying the strength of the Palestinian cause, the cause of the establishment of an independent Palestinian State."

The address assumes significance in the light of growing rapprochement between Pakistan and Israel after the first ever meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the two countries on September 1 in Istanbul. The two countries, however, have not yet established diplomatic relations.

Musharraf said his visit to New York has many 'facets and many angles' other than addressing the UNGA.

He would address a conference on gender issues where he planned to nullify the 'negative impressions' generated by the rape cases of Muktharan Mai and a woman doctor, Shajida. Mai was gang raped following the orders of a village council as a punishment for the alleged affair between her brother and a woman from another tribe.

The doctor was allegedly raped at a hospital in Sui in Balochistan. Both the cases generated adverse publicity for Pakistan.

He would also visit the CENTCOM headquarters of the US Army at Florida in Thampa before his return. Musharraf's entourage for New York, seen off by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and other senior civil and military officials, included Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri and Advisor for Women Development Nilofar Bakhtiar, among others.